Imagine a superb poker player who asks you for a loan to finance his nightly poker playing. For every $100 he gambles, he’s willing to put up $3 of his own money. He wants you to lend him the rest. You will not get a stake in his winning. Instead, he’ll give you a fixed rate of interest on your $97 loan.

The poker player likes this situation for two reasons. First, it minimizes his downside risk. He can only lose $3. Second, borrowing has a great effect on his investment — it gets leveraged. If his $100 bet ends up yielding $103, he has made a lot more than 3 percent — in fact, he has doubled his money. His $3 investment is now worth $6.

But why would you, the lender, play this game? It’s a pretty risky game for you. Suppose your friend starts out with a stake of $10,000 for the night, putting up $300 himself and borrowing $9,700 from you. If he loses anything more than 3 percent on the night, he can’t make good on your loan.

Not to worry — your friend is an extremely skilled and prudent poker player who knows when to hold ,em and when to fold ,em. He may lose a hand or two because poker is a game of chance, but by the end of the night, he’s always ahead. He always makes good on his debts to you. He has never had a losing evening. As a creditor of the poker player, this is all you care about. As long as he can make good on his debt, you’re fine. You care only about one thing — that he stays solvent so that he can repay his loan and you get your money back.

But the gambler cares about two things. Sure, he too wants to stay solvent. Insolvency wipes out his investment, which is always unpleasant — it’s bad for his reputation and hurts his chances of being able to use leverage in the future. But the gambler doesn’t just care about avoiding the downside. He also cares about the upside. As the lender, you don’t share in the upside; no matter how much money the gambler makes on his bets, you just get your promised amount of interest.

If there is a chance to win a lot of money, the gambler is willing to take a big risk. After all, his downside is small. He only has $3 at stake. To gain a really large pot of money, the gambler will take a chance on an inside straight.

As the lender of the bulk of his funds, you wouldn't want the gambler to take that chance. You know that when the leverage ratio — the ratio of borrowed funds to personal assets — is 32–1 ($9700 divided by $300), the gambler will take a lot more risk than you’d like. So you keep an eye on the gambler to make sure that he continues to be successful in his play.

But suppose the gambler becomes increasingly reckless. He begins to draw to an inside straight from time to time and pursue other high-risk strategies that require making very large bets that threaten his ability to make good on his promises to you. After all, it’s worth it to him. He’s not playing with very much of his own money. He is playing mostly with your money. How will you respond?

You might stop lending altogether, concerned that you will lose both your interest and your principal. Or you might look for ways to protect yourself. You might demand a higher rate of interest. You might ask the player to put up his own assets as collateral in case he is wiped out. You might impose a covenant that legally restricts the gambler’s behavior, barring him from drawing to an inside straight, for example.

What is in store for TH Heavy Engineering Bhd (THHE)? Its accumulated losses stand at RM96mil, it has been excluded from participating in Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) Carigali Sdn Bhd’s tenders for two years, and lastly, may be hit by bigger losses as there is the possibility of it making more impairments, going forward.

Save for something significantly positive happening at the offshore fabrication and marine services company, its prospects look increasingly dim. Based on its latest quarter ended March 31, 2016, its cash is decreasing, down to RM48mil from RM77.6mil in the previous quarter, with borrowings growing slowly but surely to RM408mil from RM406.4mil at the end of last year. Its share price has plummeted to 11 sen from RM1.03 in February 2014.

The good news is, it is actively seeking new contracts for fabrication work. It is hoping to capitalise on its resources at its strategically located Pulau Indah Yard and is focused on winning non-oil-and-gas (O&G)-related fabrication and manufacturing opportunities. The bad news is, some clients may question the company’s ability to deliver after the sanctions by Petronas.

The company has to think out of the box. Perhaps, innovative joint ventures that capitalise on THHE’s strategically located Pulau Indah Yard and a partner with the right expertise is the way to go. And it is right to look outside the embattled O&G sector. Anything less will see the company running out of cash and seeing its accumulated losses nudging it into financial distress, if it hasn’t already reached dangerous levels.

"Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend and step off before it is discredited." - George Soros

"Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend and step off before it is discredited." - George Soros

My views on Instacom

Salvador Dali15 January 2016

Instacom has been hogging the limelights since November last year. My feel is that if it was just a pump and dump, they would have dumped already. We have to be cognisant of the fact that it is no longer a telco tower kind of company, in fact profits from that industry alone will amount to less than 5% of this year's earnings.

So, where is Instacom going? Or should I refer to as Vivocom?

a) Anyone who do not believe in their "china-play" story can sell, and would have already... looking at the shaky global developments in recent weeks (oil going below US$30; yuan devaluing; China sending troops to fight ISIS; etc...). No doubt about that, if you don't wish to part of the story, you can opt out anytime and many have done so. Which is a revealing tell for the price action / volume to see the shares still above 28 sen after all that.

b) Hence, despite all that has happened, the share price has settled very nicely above 27.5-28.5 sen. which is comfy above the small 5% new share issue levels. Even if those people wanted to get out, there is sufficient liquidity for them to exit.

c) Look at Edra, look at 1MDB, who has been buying? Look at Penang under water tunnel, who had the better financing. Gemas? etc... what else. Its not that Malaysia wants to get China's investments, but no one else seems to be looking or wanting to invest! The Middle East has problems of their own, Japan as well... no one seems keen to provide long term FDI... except China. I do not need to go into why Vivocom has a good relationship with CCRC and possibly other China mega counters. Please read the CIMB report.

d) Either the entire thing is a scam, or its true... how to scam with CRCC?, the projects are there already, it is one of the top 100 listed companies in China, they can see the news, they can read the blurbs. Yes, it may take some time for markets to give the stock a proper valuation - currently we are looking at less than 5x prospective earnings. I do believe if and when the quarterly figures come in in line or above valuations/expectations, we will see huge spurts then.

e) To be fair, you cannot ascribe a 10x earnings on a completely new RTO business, no matter how attractive it may be. It has to be gradual, as more confirmation on quarterly earnings and new projects being won.

To that end, I have just come across a faed technical chartist and got his email on his view on Instacom. Our ways of interpreting data may be different, but I think we come to the same conclusion.

Support level is strong at 1,610 points. In the past one month, the FBM KLCI rebounded whenever it fell to this level, including last Friday when there was strong selling pressure. Despite being bearish in the long term, the bullish divergence on the RSI indicator shows that there is strong support. The FBM KLCI is still within the sideways range between 1,610 and 1,640 points. After the UK exit, the market may need some time to evaluate the situation. If the FBM KLCI stays between these levels, the market is still uncertain. However, a breakout above 1,640 points indicates a bullish sentiment and the market may start to rally but a breakout below 1,610 points could cause a major decline and we are talking above the index falling to 1,500 points. Let’s see which level the FBM KLCI breaks.

(http://cdn.theborneopost.com/newsimages/2016/06/TA03432.jpg)

Limited number of Malaysian firms with exposure to UK ~ 25 Jun 2016http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/06/25/limited-number-of-msian-firms-with-exposure-to-uk/

Thank you sir for your insight. Bear in mind that you need to minus 19 cents before 30th June due to dividend entitlement. Current support at RM2.90 with upside resistance at RM2.92 and downside support at RM2.88. Neutral trading expected. 8)

Thank you sir for your insight. Bear in mind that you need to minus 19 cents before 30th June due to dividend entitlement. Current support at RM2.90 with upside resistance at RM2.92 and downside support at RM2.88. Neutral trading expected. 8)

1. Chartwise, expect SP Setia to retest the last low of RM2.80 and move much further down. 2. Should there be a dead cat bounce due to short-covering — Sell into strength, run road fast.3. The cash call (rights issue of up to 1.07b new RCPS-i and rhe 19 sen dividend entitlement have already been priced in.4. The BREXIT -ve impact has not been priced-in yet (re Performance chart below).(http://i.imgur.com/mXOSF.gif)Performance chart ~ Malaysian firms with exposure to UK and/or EU ~ 4 Jul 2016

1. Chartwise, expect SP Setia to retest the last low of RM2.80 and move much further down. 2. Should there be a dead cat bounce due to short-covering — Sell into strength, run road fast.3. The cash call (rights issue of up to 1.07b new RCPS-i and rhe 19 sen dividend entitlement have already been priced in.4. The BREXIT -ve impact has not been priced-in yet (re Performance chart below).(http://i.imgur.com/mXOSF.gif)Performance chart ~ Malaysian firms with exposure to UK and/or EU ~ 4 Jul 2016

Well, I had to blog about this because I had mentioned Borneo Oil during last CNY that it was ripe for a transformation play.

Postives

a) Mathematically attractive - 6 rights for 1 share with 2 free warrants. The rights are priced at just 10 sen. Hence at 80 sen, if you bought 10,000 shares = RM8,000 ... you'd end up with 70,000 shares plus 20,000 warrants. Technically an ex-all price should be around 15-17 sen. Should it trade at that price?

Bearing in mind that the new owners (Hap Seng) has literally revamped the company by reducing its par value to 10 sen. Plus it is now profitable with the gold mine having just started ops. So, you have literally a fresh start for the counter ... little or no debt with fresh capital coming from all shareholders. The exercise could raise RM223.39m cash which is approximately the market cap currently. No baggage, established and professionally proven new owners, an uncertain sector (gold mines) but the early steps already indicated that the extraction cost can be controlled and is proving to be profitable already within just a few months. Later on we can expect better economies of scale and expertise to enhance margins further.

Hence it would take very little for the share price to go above 20 sen ex-all basis, and in all likelihood the free warrants should be convertible at par value of 10 sen, which would lend a price range of between 9-13 sen for the warrants alone.

b) Strategic - There is a lot of room for upside owing to the fact that most banks do not lend to mining concerns. Hence you would have come across a lot of mines' proposals but no bank funding. It would take an entity with the clout and capital strength to venture comfortably to extract value in the mines located in Malaysia.

I have criticised before how short sighted the local banks and Malaysian financial planners were by not adopting and making mining a strategic choice for promotion. KL could have been the capital for raising funds for the mining sector in Southeast Asia if we have a more concerted effort together. The Ring of Fire (go google it) runs right along most Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia. Yes, the mines may not be the really big ones but we keep losing the fight to Indonesia with plenty of state pension funds and long term investors keen to invest in that sector in Indonesia.

Hence it is safe to say Hap Seng would have managed to negotiate a very good value driven deal to absorb the mines and take over Borneo Oil as capital funding is sorely lacking. This is where the kicker comes in. While not much information can be obtained on details of the mines, it is rumoured to be highly attractive terms of short, medium and long term returns.

c) A Giant In the Making - Owing to the above structural reasons, there is a solid chance that Borneo Oil will be a mining giant in Southeast Asia. Because, once proven to be able to operate profitably, it can continue to snap up smaller mines via share issuance. Before you know it, some other listed companies may try to play catch up. Why do you think that decent small mines from Malaysia generally have to list in Australia or Canada, there is no support for capital funding, government promotion and tax breaks, etc... its all oil and gas oil and gas. Borneo Oil is actually showing how it can be done, without bank funding.

Plus they are not just talking about it, they are themselves putting in more than RM100m cash into it (after paying for controlling shares in Borneo Oil).

d) Valuation - No baggage, profitable in a turnaround, massive cleanup in par value reduction recently, 10 sen par with good outlook, professionally proven owners, an undervalued sector that is ripe for harvesting in a coordinated fashion ... plus an inventive rights and free warrants exercise. I put forth a fair value range before going ex of RM1.00-RM1.25.

Negatives

a) As in any mining concern, commodity price fluctuations are part and parcel of being in that business. If prices suddenly get depressed for an extended, mines will have to close temporarily to reduce cost. However, it all depends on the cost of the mining leases that they obtained. If it was deep value then they will only make less money in depressed markets. As explained above, owing to the structure of the industry locally, it is highly likely that the mining leases came at very attractive levels.

NOTE: The above opinion is not an invitation to buy or sell. It serves as a blogging activity of my investing thoughts and ideas, this does not represent an investment advisory service as I charge no subscription or management fees (donations are welcomed though). I may already have positions in the stock mentioned above. The content on this site is provided as general information only and should not be taken as investment advice. All site content, shall not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument. The ideas expressed are solely the opinions of the author. Any action that you take as a result of information, analysis, or commentary on this site is ultimately your responsibility. Consult your investment adviser before making any investment decisions.

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The Edge:

Borneo Oil Bhd has proposed a 1-for-6 renounceable rights issue of up to 2.374 billion shares at an indicative issue price of 10 sen per share, together with 1-for-2 free detachable warrants (warrants C) of up to 1.187 billion warrants, at an entitlement date to be determined later.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia this evening, Borneo oil said it intend to raise a minimum gross proceeds of RM223.39 million, the bulk of which will be channeled into the exploration of gold and limestone mining activities, working capital for fast food operations, future investments and repayment of bank borrowings.

Borneo Oil said its substantial shareholders – Victoria Ltd (25.48%) and Hap Seng Insurance Services Sdn Bhd (16.72%) have pledged to subscribe in full for their respective entitlements, while the public portion of the right Issue will be underwritten by RHB Investment Bank Bhd.

The issuance of the rights issue and free warrants are expected to enlarge Borneo Oil’s issued capital to 3.956 billion shares from 372.319 million shares currently.

Borneo Oil is the exclusive sub-contractor for the exploration and mining of alluvial and lode gold in three districts in Pahang — Mukim Batu Yon, Lipis; Hutan Simpan Hulu Jelai, Lipis; and Hutan Simpan Bukit Ibam, Rompin — covering a total of 1,565.1ha.

The group also operates a 389.743-acre limestone mining operation in Ulu Segama, Lahad Datu, Sabah.

“In the longer term, the company harbours ambitions to become a major player in the gold mining industry domestically and regionally, with the ultimate objective of constantly expanding and strengthening its business base in order to always maximise returns for loyal shareholders.

“The board of directors is confident that, with the addition of the gold mining business starting to come to fruition, these positive developments augur well for the financial performance of Borneo Oil in both the foreseeable and long-term future,” Borneo Oil said in a media statement, adding that it expects to complete the transaction by the third quarter of this year (3Q15).

The indicative issue price of 10 sen per rights share represents a discount of approximately 41.11% to its theoretical ex-price of 16.98 sen per share, which was based on the five-day weighted average market price of 79.8 sen that was calculated up to April 21, 2015.“For illustrative purpose only, the gross proceeds that is expected to be raised upon full exercise of the warrants C based on the indicative exercise price of 10 sen per share is approximately RM111.70 million under the minimum scenario and approximately RM118.69 million under the maximum scenario,” the group said.

Borneo Oil added that the gross proceeds to be raised from the exercise of the warrants C will be used as additional working capital.'

LAST week a broker got an order from a client who has not bought or sold shares for the past three years. The client, who is retired, placed an order to buy shares in Sumatec Resources Bhd at 61 sen.

Sumatec was among the few stocks that saw heavy volume being traded last week. The broker advised the elderly man that he should not be taken in by the euphoria that the market had seen last week, with trading volumes hitting record high of more than 7.6 billion shares in a single day.

Apart from Sumatec, the bulk of the shares were traded in two other stocks, namely, Globaltec Formation Bhd and PDZ Holdings Bhd. The three stocks have a combined market capitalisation of RM2.6bil, which is a fraction of the entire market capitalisation of Bursa Malaysia that stood at RM1.76 trillion yesterday.

The elderly retail investor did not listen to the broker’s advice. Sumatec ended at 45 sen that day. Now, the retail investor has to wait for Sumatec to recover or lose a few thousand ringgit if he chooses to sell.

The large trading volumes of stocks should not be a reason for retail investors to invest in stocks. Fundamentals should be the primary reason. The large volume is a game for a select group of market participants called proprietary day traders, or better known as stockists.

There are about 80 of them attached to various brokerages in Bursa Malaysia. Their job is to trade for the brokerage as principals. They don’t have any clients. The stockists can buy and sell as much as they want in a day. There is no limit imposed.

They are not imposed any brokerage fees but have to pay stamp duty and clearing fee to Bursa Malaysia based on the value of trades done. The duty is capped at RM250 or less, while the clearing fee is minimal.

A brokerage will normally place their stockists in a room where they conduct their buying and selling operations with minimum disruptions. Even phone calls are restricted.

The stockists can short-sell stocks without having the shares in hand. But they have to cover their positions by buying back from the market before the end of the day’s trading.

The profit from buying and selling are shared between the brokerage and the stockist. Normally 60% goes to the brokerage and the trader gets 40%. However, an “ace stockist” can command up to 90% of the profits. But the stockist has to absorb all the losses.

Normally, the brokerage will hold the profits of the stockist and pay out only after a year. An ace stockist can earn RM10mil or more a year by just being a principal stockist for the company.

But there are limitations to what a stockist can do to generate the volume of stocks. They generally shy away from stocks that are more than RM1 and that have a small paid-up capital.

Apart from having to incur a higher clearing fee, normally stocks that are held tightly tend not to have enough shares in the market to generate the volume without causing a substantial rise in the price.

The typical targets for a stockist are stocks that are priced at less than RM1 and that have a large share capital. For instance, Globletec Formation, which is an amalgamation of three stocks that were involved in manufacturing automotive components, has a capital of more than 5 billion shares.

Some companies like to see the activities of the stockist because it supposedly adds excitement to the market, not to mention to the stock as well.

But there is also a view that the stockists hold an unfair advantage over the normal investors because they can short a stock or take long positions several bids higher.

This allows a few stockists to “gang up” and deliberately cause a panic sell-down of a particular stock.

In jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, while short-selling is allowed, there are rules that prevent deliberate sell-downs. Anyway, this volume game of trading in stocks is not for retailers. It is only for the traders of the market where the risk and returns are high.

For retailers, ultimately value investing is the game. Value stocks may not have the kind of volume one would like to see nor would it be cheap. But it attracts the kind of investors who generally take a long-long term view.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc, the flagship listed entity of Warren Buffett crossed the US$205,000 per share mark last week, making it the highest-priced stock on the New York Stock Exchange. Despite calls from shareholders to split the stock, Buffett has stayed firm in refusing to undertake such an exercise on the grounds that it would attract a “different breed” of investors that he does not fancy.

A hard-to-trade stock encourages investors to take a long-term view and cuts out those trading on emotions. This is something retail investors should take heed of. The volume game in trading stocks is not their cup of tea. It is only for a select few.

1. Chartwise, expect SP Setia to retest the last low of RM2.80 and move much further down. 2. Should there be a dead cat bounce due to short-covering — Sell into strength, run road fast.3. The cash call (rights issue of up to 1.07b new RCPS-i and rhe 19 sen dividend entitlement have already been priced in.4. The BREXIT -ve impact has not been priced-in yet (re Performance chart below).(http://i.imgur.com/mXOSF.gif)Performance chart ~ Malaysian firms with exposure to UK and/or EU ~ 4 Jul 2016

Although your call for Sell into strength, run road fast was correct previously but unexpected news from BNM yesterday boost up some property stocks and so temporary short term uptrend seen. I know it won't last but enjoy while it lasts...... 8)

Although your call for Sell into strength, run road fast was correct previously but unexpected news from BNM yesterday boost up some property stocks and so temporary short term uptrend seen. I know it won't last but enjoy while it lasts...... 8)

A dead cat bounce is a temporary recovery from a prolonged decline or bear market, followed by the continuation of the downtrend. A dead cat bounce is a small, short-lived recovery in the price of a declining security, such as a stock. Frequently, downtrends are interrupted by brief periods of recovery - or small rallies - where prices temporarily rise. This can be a result of traders or investors closing out short positions or buying on the assumption that the security has reached a bottom. A dead cat bounce is a price pattern that is usually identified in hindsight. Analysts may attempt to predict that the recovery will be only temporary by using certain technical and fundamental analysis tools.

A dead cat bounce is a temporary recovery from a prolonged decline or bear market, followed by the continuation of the downtrend. A dead cat bounce is a small, short-lived recovery in the price of a declining security, such as a stock. Frequently, downtrends are interrupted by brief periods of recovery - or small rallies - where prices temporarily rise. This can be a result of traders or investors closing out short positions or buying on the assumption that the security has reached a bottom. A dead cat bounce is a price pattern that is usually identified in hindsight. Analysts may attempt to predict that the recovery will be only temporary by using certain technical and fundamental analysis tools.

A dead cat bounce is a temporary recovery from a prolonged decline or bear market, followed by the continuation of the downtrend. A dead cat bounce is a small, short-lived recovery in the price of a declining security, such as a stock. Frequently, downtrends are interrupted by brief periods of recovery - or small rallies - where prices temporarily rise. This can be a result of traders or investors closing out short positions or buying on the assumption that the security has reached a bottom. A dead cat bounce is a price pattern that is usually identified in hindsight. Analysts may attempt to predict that the recovery will be only temporary by using certain technical and fundamental analysis tools.

SINGAPORE - Malaysia-based gold mining firm CNMC Goldmine has been notified by the Kelantan State Lands and Mines Office to temporarily stop its operations at the Sokor gold field.

The order came on Tuesday (July 19) as part of Kelantan state government's review of CNMC's application for large scale operation status, which will remove the mining amount limitation for its Sokor operations, CNMC said in an announcement on Thursday (July 21).

CNMC added that it has worked closely with the relevant authorities and joint-venture partner Kelantan State Economic Development Corporation to ensure the application meets all the requirements.

"The board is of the opinion that the temporary stop-work order should be lifted in due course," the announcement added.

CNMC shares were last traded at 46 Singapore cents on Tuesday. The company has requested to lift the trading halt.

On SP Setia, I strongly believed that RM3.10 was a stop before next rally. I expect temporary profit taking next week. However, do you think those big funds will just take RM3.10 and go away. I doubt so. What's your TA on this? 8)

On SP Setia, I strongly believed that RM3.10 was a stop before next rally. I expect temporary profit taking next week. However, do you think those big funds will just take RM3.10 and go away. I doubt so. What's your TA on this? 8)

"Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend and step off before it is discredited." - George Soros

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on August 3, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: While investment sentiment towards the local stock market remains cautious across the board amid economic uncertainties, there is a notable speculative interest spike in some penny stocks.

Shares in all six companies were heavily traded in the past few weeks, while their share prices went up within a short period of time. The share price rally raised many eyebrows knowing that more often than not the prices of these stocks would usually tumble as fast as they climb.

There could be positive news flows to draw investors’ attention, particularly retail investors. But fundamental-wise, these companies usually have not much to talk about, said a dealer.

For instance, loss-making Asia Media has gained 77% within a month, from nine sen on July 5 to 16 sen yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM38 million.

Naim Indah saw its share price surge by 42% within a week, from seven sen on July 21 to 10 sen last Thursday, bringing it a market capitalisation of RM82 million.

Meanwhile, market capitalisation of K-Star has doubled to RM24 million, thanks to a twofold increase in its share price, from 4.5 sen on July 12 to nine sen yesterday.

After the recent rally, Bahvest is no longer a penny stock after its share price rose from 73 sen on July 11 to RM1.18 last Thursday, an increase of more than 60% in less than three weeks.

Shares in TH Heavy leaped 170% to 23 sen on Monday, up from 8.5 sen on July 21. Year to date, the stock has risen 26% to 21.5 sen, bringing a market capitalisation of RM241 million.

But the penny stock that has supposedly caught the regulator’s attention is PDZ Holdings, which saw its share price climb 64% in two trading days, from seven sen on July 26 to 11.5 sen on July 28. Bursa Malaysia on July 28 issued an unusual market activity query to the firm.

It is also worth noting that PDZ Holdings, Naim Indah, TH Heavy, K-Star, Asia Media and Bahvest saw their trading volumes beginning to pick up since mid-June to the end of last month.

In fact, the volume traded for the six counters yesterday — 187.01 million shares — made up close to 10% of the total trading volume of Bursa, which was about 1.91 billion shares.

It is also noteworthy that shares in Naim Indah, TH Heavy and K-Star, which saw sudden rises in trading volume since last month, have actually been thinly traded since 2013.

Notably, Naim Indah was one of the counters linked to Datuk Raymond Chan Boon Siew in 2012. The Sabah businessman has a short but notable track record of being the “man with the Midas touch” in the local stock market.

Apart from Naim Indah, Chan also had substantial shareholdings in other penny stocks, including Harvest Court Industries Bhd, which is currently known as Anzo Holdings Bhd, Ariantec Global Bhd, now known as NetX Holdings Bhd, and Metronic Global Bhd.

All these stocks had nerve-racking roller-coaster rides in 2012.

The Edge weekly in its cover story for the week of July 18 to 24, entitled “Riding the penny stock roller coaster”, reported that groups of local sophisticated investors, comprising high-net-worth individuals, had pooled funds amounting to some RM200 million to actively buy into penny stocks in the next few months.

According to sources with local investment banks, of the exclusive investment clubs being formed, one of them is eyeing 20 penny stocks and so far has identified at least three potential target companies.

This development is not unheard of among stockbrokers and veteran investors.

History repeats itself. The future is but a repetition of the past..."The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."

AMEDIA climbed from last low of RM0.107 on 11 Mar 2011 to a record high of RM0.345 on 28 Sep 2012 and then it collapsed and plunged to a lower low of RM0.07 on 31 Dec 2013. (Share prices are based on xall.)

When the lizard moves its tail to the right; it is a 'casino stock'. :D :D :DWhen the lizard moves its tail to the left; it is a 'con stock'. :speechless: :speechless: :speechless:When the lizard hardly moves its tail; it is a 'dead stock'. :P :P :P

Technical analysis is all about probabilities and it is based on the "if A then B" idea.

What is Technical Analysis?http://stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:overview:technical_analysis

Technical Analysis is the forecasting of future financial price movements based on an examination of past price movements. Like weather forecasting, technical analysis does not result in absolute predictions about the future. Instead, technical analysis can help investors anticipate what is “likely” to happen to prices over time. Technical analysis uses a wide variety of charts that show price over time.

When the lizard moves its tail to the right; it is a 'casino stock'. :D :D :DWhen the lizard moves its tail to the left; it is a 'con stock'. :speechless: :speechless: :speechless:When the lizard hardly moves its tail; it is a 'dead stock'. :P :P :P

Technical analysis is all about probabilities and it is based on the "if A then B" idea.

What is Technical Analysis?http://stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:overview:technical_analysis

Technical Analysis is the forecasting of future financial price movements based on an examination of past price movements. Like weather forecasting, technical analysis does not result in absolute predictions about the future. Instead, technical analysis can help investors anticipate what is “likely” to happen to prices over time. Technical analysis uses a wide variety of charts that show price over time.

(http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/images/ecprincnotaildnco.jpg)

Another lesson we must learn is if the lizard loses it's tail? It means it is a kaput stock. :thumbsdown:

Perisai sounds out bondholders on potential recovery rate ~ 26 Aug 2016http://finance.yahoo.com/news/perisai-sounds-bondholders-potential-recovery-033114791.htmlHolders of Perisai's S$125m ($92.3m) 6.875 % bonds due Oct 3 have been warned they may recover only half of their investments.

Deleveraging and improving cash flow are key for offshore and marine players - but time may be running out for some, say analysts

29 August 2016

Singapore - CASH flow statements and debt refinancing plans of O&M (offshore and marine) counters have come under intense scrutiny, as analysts and stakeholders attempt to distinguish players more at risk than others.

It's a wake-up call triggered by the demise of the industry's once rising star, Swiber Holdings, which is now in the midst of a judicial management exercise.

A Business Times scan of small and mid-cap O&M companies - drawn from the watch lists of equity analysts - indicates a challenging patch ahead for many.

With recovery still eluding the sector, the key to survival depends on how far industry players have deleveraged or cashed up to last through an industry shake-up in the wake of Swiber, analysts said. However, time may just not be on the side of many small and mid-cap industry players even as enquiries for oilfield services have increased.

IHS principal researcher Ang Dingli noted that oil companies have grown more accustomed to lower (but more stable) oil prices and may issue more tenders for new field developments at the end of 2016 or early 2017 as they are also being pressed to replace depleting oil and gas reserves. But Mr Ang qualified that these tenders will be released at a more deliberate pace and for limited projects.

He also warned that only "a few fortunate O&M players" - primarily large- cap yard operators with established track records in executing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects - may benefit from any uptick. The rest would have to tread water at least until the end of 2017.

Mr Ang noted that EPC contractors - primarily those with a yard presence - have "already done what they could to lower costs either through restructuring or retrenchments of non-core staff".

He sees a lack of demand for their services as the bigger setback. Adding to the woes of small and mid-cap EPC contractors is excess capacity, partly from overinvestment in the module fabrication sub-segment in the days of high oil prices.

These contractors also face challenges from higher local content requirements imposed by some national oil companies that could restrict participation in subcontract work for new EPC awards.

EPC awards would also take months to multiply into contracting opportunities for supporting services including those for offshore support vessels (OSV).

The OSV segment is still haunted by a supply glut from excessive newbuilding and demand destruction from a slump in offshore drilling and EPC activities. Pareto Securities chief executive David Palmer said: "There is a tsunami of newbuilding (OSVs) completed and ready for delivery that are sitting in the yards."

The key uncertainty, according to Mr Palmer, is that "the exact number of newbuilding OSVs is indeterminate" and that "most industry numbers are understated". He suggested the supply glut - though more prevalent among shipshape OSV assets - has also compromised demand for liftboats, which were once touted as an asset class still above water.

One estimate is that hundreds of OSVs have yet to be delivered from China. M3 Marine's managing director Mike Meade noted that Chinese shipbuilders have tried to link up with active OSV operators to offload the excess vessels (resulting from defaults on shipbuilding contracts). The result could be more vessels competing for work in an already oversupplied OSV market.

One of the world's largest OSV owner-operators, Tidewater, recently breached an interest covenant, sparking speculation that the New York-listed player may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection if it cannot secure waivers from its lenders and noteholders. Tidewater is headquartered in New Orleans and operates as a private-owned entity in Singapore.

On the situation here, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP partner Robson Lee warned: "Holders of unsecured bonds issued by a company that has become mired in dire financial straits (such as Swiber) will have very little recourse to recover their investments in the event of an insolvent winding up." He noted that in such a situation, there is certainly no chance of any redemption. Others noted that bonds or debts in the O&M sector would have to be restructured (which typically involves either a substantial haircut or conversion to equity) or their repayments deferred. Support from lenders will be crucial.

Regional maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) solutions provider Mencast has, for instance, secured loan and credit facilities of up to S$74.9 million from UOB that will go towards redeeming S$50 million of outstanding bonds due on Sept 12, refinance certain liabilities, and provide for its working capital needs.

In Swiber's case, the affidavit for its judicial management application indicated that it had taken up lending facilities from DBS to repay medium-term notes due in June and July. BT earlier reported major local banks have worked with Swiber as well as Pacific Radiance to extend repayment deadlines for their loans. However, Swiber's subsequent troubles prompted some to ask if those efforts had been adequate in the face of a major O&M meltdown.

Unlike Swiber, some Singapore-listed players may be able to tap their cash-rich anchor shareholders. Malaysian tycoon Yaw Chee Siew, who has bankrolled Otto Marine through the years, set out earlier this year to take the OSV-focused player private. His decision to delist Otto Marine came as depressed O&M stock prices limited the effectiveness of further equity injections.

For O&M players with no cash-rich anchor shareholders to lean on, Mr Palmer extended a glimmer of hope: that the needed cash could eventually enter the system from "some unconventional sources not previously in this sector". But this may "severely dilute existing equity".

He warned that under the current excess capacity conditions (particularly severe in the OSV segment), "we will need to see more 'blood' before more sustainable capital will come in to fund companies".

But for the brave, there could be bargain-hunting opportunities. "Investors . . . have to tolerate extreme volatility and uncertainty in the short term but those who can identify companies that will make it through stand to (reap) fantastic returns," Mr Palmer said.

DBS is one of the principal bankers for almost all the O&M companies in the list.

When a stock is in a bear-market territory, the last low will be retested and the share price will move much further down, forming a new record low. In technical analysis, a stock that has made a new low is one that must be treated with caution and to be avoided buying for longterm investment.

Maybank is maintaining its “buy” call for Ezion Holdings, with a target price of 45 cents.

The research house is forecasting Ezion to record its first positive Free Cash Flow (FCF) in FY16. However, the research house warns that Ezion’s average yearly FCF would cover only approximately 10% of its net debt.

Regardless, Maybank analyst Yeak Chee Keong says that the company is likely to weather a downturn in a tightened credit market for FY16 and FY17, but may require refinancing of US$270 million ($365.1 million) over FY18-20.

Noting that Ezion is in the midst of restructuring its bank loans to extend the repayment tenure, Yeak adds that an extension of just three more years would eliminate the need for more refinancing.

The research house believes that withdrawing credit and seizing assets is not in the interest of banks as their inability to operate oil &amp; gas related assets may force them into a fire sale.

“Companies that can keep the assets utilised will be able to extract more value than banks,” says Yeak.

Moreover, Yeak argues that Ezion would also be in a better position to refinance by FY18 if it adheres to its debt repayment schedule. That would reduce its net gearing to about 0.6-0.7x, placing it in a better position to refinance.

Unlike weaker oil services players whose bond yields are 23-33%, the bond market is pricing Ezion’s bonds at average of 8.4%, suggesting that cash flow is not distressed at this point.

Looking ahead, the research house believes that Ezion has a high chance of getting through the downturn if oil stays at least US$40-50/bbl.

It also expects continued demand for liftboats, noting that they offer a cost-efficient option for oil companies to service and maintain production at their offshore production platforms in this challenging environment.

In any stock market, it's all about supply and demand. From a chartist's point of view; buy stocks with good momentum and volume, which can reward you a good profit. Do not buy stocks with low or no volume and sit on them, these stocks are dead and dire cheap for a reason. (Bottom-fishing is the toughest gameplay in the stock market.) Watch the video clip below and listen carefully from 1:50 to 1:59... the speaker has revealed an important fact about the stock market gameplay. "In the stock markets today, there are good companies that are overpriced and there are worthless companies that are overpriced. If you are going to be a fool and pay absurd prices because you think that a greater fool will appear in the future, make sure you buy a goat and not a monkey."

Bottom-fishing is the toughest gameplay in the stock markethttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckz-a-_nZas

One of the Elliott Wave rules stated that Wave-3 cannot be the shortest wave. Usually for commodities, Wave-5 will be the longest wave; while for stocks, Wave-3 will be the longest wave and a minimum target for Wave-5 is 100% of Wave-1. The best thing about Elliott wave patterns? Easy: They repeat. They repeat on all timeframes, across dozens of markets, all over the world. Once you know what to look for, you see the familiar 5s and 3s repeat in every chart.

When a stock is in a bear-market territory, the last low will be retested and the share price will move much further down, forming a new record low. In technical analysis, a stock that has made a new low is one that must be treated with caution and to be avoided buying for longterm investment.

One of the Elliott Wave rules stated that Wave-3 cannot be the shortest wave. Usually for commodities, Wave-5 will be the longest wave; while for stocks, Wave-3 will be the longest wave and a minimum target for Wave-5 is 100% of Wave-1. The best thing about Elliott wave patterns? Easy: They repeat. They repeat on all timeframes, across dozens of markets, all over the world. Once you know what to look for, you see the familiar 5s and 3s repeat in every chart.

"Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend and step off before it is discredited." - George Soros

Imagine a superb poker player who asks you for a loan to finance his nightly poker playing. For every $100 he gambles, he’s willing to put up $3 of his own money. He wants you to lend him the rest. You will not get a stake in his winning. Instead, he’ll give you a fixed rate of interest on your $97 loan.

The poker player likes this situation for two reasons. First, it minimizes his downside risk. He can only lose $3. Second, borrowing has a great effect on his investment — it gets leveraged. If his $100 bet ends up yielding $103, he has made a lot more than 3 percent — in fact, he has doubled his money. His $3 investment is now worth $6.

But why would you, the lender, play this game? It’s a pretty risky game for you. Suppose your friend starts out with a stake of $10,000 for the night, putting up $300 himself and borrowing $9,700 from you. If he loses anything more than 3 percent on the night, he can’t make good on your loan.

Not to worry — your friend is an extremely skilled and prudent poker player who knows when to hold ,em and when to fold ,em. He may lose a hand or two because poker is a game of chance, but by the end of the night, he’s always ahead. He always makes good on his debts to you. He has never had a losing evening. As a creditor of the poker player, this is all you care about. As long as he can make good on his debt, you’re fine. You care only about one thing — that he stays solvent so that he can repay his loan and you get your money back.

But the gambler cares about two things. Sure, he too wants to stay solvent. Insolvency wipes out his investment, which is always unpleasant — it’s bad for his reputation and hurts his chances of being able to use leverage in the future. But the gambler doesn’t just care about avoiding the downside. He also cares about the upside. As the lender, you don’t share in the upside; no matter how much money the gambler makes on his bets, you just get your promised amount of interest.

If there is a chance to win a lot of money, the gambler is willing to take a big risk. After all, his downside is small. He only has $3 at stake. To gain a really large pot of money, the gambler will take a chance on an inside straight.

As the lender of the bulk of his funds, you wouldn't want the gambler to take that chance. You know that when the leverage ratio — the ratio of borrowed funds to personal assets — is 32–1 ($9700 divided by $300), the gambler will take a lot more risk than you’d like. So you keep an eye on the gambler to make sure that he continues to be successful in his play.

But suppose the gambler becomes increasingly reckless. He begins to draw to an inside straight from time to time and pursue other high-risk strategies that require making very large bets that threaten his ability to make good on his promises to you. After all, it’s worth it to him. He’s not playing with very much of his own money. He is playing mostly with your money. How will you respond?

You might stop lending altogether, concerned that you will lose both your interest and your principal. Or you might look for ways to protect yourself. You might demand a higher rate of interest. You might ask the player to put up his own assets as collateral in case he is wiped out. You might impose a covenant that legally restricts the gambler’s behavior, barring him from drawing to an inside straight, for example.

"Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend and step off before it is discredited." - George Soros

Imagine a superb poker player who asks you for a loan to finance his nightly poker playing. For every $100 he gambles, he’s willing to put up $3 of his own money. He wants you to lend him the rest. You will not get a stake in his winning. Instead, he’ll give you a fixed rate of interest on your $97 loan.

The poker player likes this situation for two reasons. First, it minimizes his downside risk. He can only lose $3. Second, borrowing has a great effect on his investment — it gets leveraged. If his $100 bet ends up yielding $103, he has made a lot more than 3 percent — in fact, he has doubled his money. His $3 investment is now worth $6.

But why would you, the lender, play this game? It’s a pretty risky game for you. Suppose your friend starts out with a stake of $10,000 for the night, putting up $300 himself and borrowing $9,700 from you. If he loses anything more than 3 percent on the night, he can’t make good on your loan.

Not to worry — your friend is an extremely skilled and prudent poker player who knows when to hold ,em and when to fold ,em. He may lose a hand or two because poker is a game of chance, but by the end of the night, he’s always ahead. He always makes good on his debts to you. He has never had a losing evening. As a creditor of the poker player, this is all you care about. As long as he can make good on his debt, you’re fine. You care only about one thing — that he stays solvent so that he can repay his loan and you get your money back.

But the gambler cares about two things. Sure, he too wants to stay solvent. Insolvency wipes out his investment, which is always unpleasant — it’s bad for his reputation and hurts his chances of being able to use leverage in the future. But the gambler doesn’t just care about avoiding the downside. He also cares about the upside. As the lender, you don’t share in the upside; no matter how much money the gambler makes on his bets, you just get your promised amount of interest.

If there is a chance to win a lot of money, the gambler is willing to take a big risk. After all, his downside is small. He only has $3 at stake. To gain a really large pot of money, the gambler will take a chance on an inside straight.

As the lender of the bulk of his funds, you wouldn't want the gambler to take that chance. You know that when the leverage ratio — the ratio of borrowed funds to personal assets — is 32–1 ($9700 divided by $300), the gambler will take a lot more risk than you’d like. So you keep an eye on the gambler to make sure that he continues to be successful in his play.

But suppose the gambler becomes increasingly reckless. He begins to draw to an inside straight from time to time and pursue other high-risk strategies that require making very large bets that threaten his ability to make good on his promises to you. After all, it’s worth it to him. He’s not playing with very much of his own money. He is playing mostly with your money. How will you respond?

You might stop lending altogether, concerned that you will lose both your interest and your principal. Or you might look for ways to protect yourself. You might demand a higher rate of interest. You might ask the player to put up his own assets as collateral in case he is wiped out. You might impose a covenant that legally restricts the gambler’s behavior, barring him from drawing to an inside straight, for example.

SC and bank probe Vivocom research report, analyst relieved of duties ~ 1 Dec 2016http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/12/01/sc-and-bank-begin-probe-on-vivocom-research-report/It is learnt that the investment bank involved and the Securities Commission are looking into the report, which was made public “momentarily” a day before the company actually released its latest quarterly results. “In the meantime, it is learnt that the analyst has been relieved of duties,” said a source.

This Chinese stock soared 4,500% on Nasdaq and no one knows why ~ 31 Mar 2017https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-30/this-chinese-stock-soared-4-500-on-nasdaq-and-no-one-knows-whyWins Finance Holdings, a thinly traded stock made it onto a widely followed index, but that’s probably not the reason its price surged.

$5 billion write-down by Chesapeake spooks investors, but is it much ado about nothing? ~ 8 May 2015https://seekingalpha.com/article/3162106-5b-write-down-by-chesapeake-spooks-investors-but-is-it-much-ado-about-nothing

The chart showed that Chesapeake was in a strong downtrend as the prices of oil and natural gas plummeted.

SEOUL, June 21 Korea Investment Corp (KIC) said on Monday it would invest $200 million in Chesapeake Energy Co (CHK.N) as the U.S. No.2 natural gas company was set to issue $900 million worth of convertible preferred stock.

China Investment Corp (CIC) and Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] would also take stakes in Chesapeake, although the exact investment amount was not disclosed, KIC said in a statement.

The statement said the investment would bring stable annual dividend income of 5.75 percent, and additional income if higher gas prices helped Chesapeake's share price strengthen, and KIC converted its holding into common stock at the agreed $27 per share.

Chesapeake shares closed at $24.61 on Friday.

"We made the investment decision because the long-term gas price outlook is bright on a global push for clean energy and expectations of less deep-sea water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after BP's (BP.L) (BP.N) oil spill," the KIC statement said.

KIC, set up in 2005 to enhance sovereign wealth and help managing assets entrusted by the government and the Bank of Korea, also said in the statement that higher gas prices were projected because of relatively low gas prices against crude oil resulting from unbalanced supply and demand.

A month earlier, Chesapeake had issued $1.7 billion worth of convertible preferred stock under the same conditions, with U.S. institutional investors taking $1.1 billion and Asian institutional investors the remainder, it said.

A consortium of KIC and CIC had considered taking a stake in Chesapeake, local media said last month, while a KIC spokesman said no decision had been made on an investment or an investment amount, since the firm had received an investment offer. [ID:nTOE64J086]

Chesapeake said in May that it expected to receive at least $2 billion from the sale of a stake in its Marcellus Shale properties as part of its latest plan to raise cash. [ID:nN11178833] (Reporting by Cho Mee-young; Editing by Chris Lewis)

IW City suspended after MoF calls off deal, Ekovest under pressure ~ 4 May 2017http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/05/04/iw-city-suspended-after-mof-calls-off-deal-ekovest-under--pressure/

Iskandar Waterfront weighs Malaysian IPO revival next year ~ 10 Oct 2016https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-10/1mdb-partner-iskandar-waterfront-weighs-reviving-malaysian-ipoShares of Ekovest have risen about 93% this year, bucking the 1.6% decline in the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index over the same period.

Bandar Malaysia fallout: China’s loss, Japan’s gain? ~ 4 May 2017http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/05/04/bandar-malaysia-fallout-chinas-loss-japans-gain/In the wake of a possible fallout between the Chinese and Malaysian governments over the Bandar Malaysia property deal lapsing, Japan is increasing its push to get a lucrative tender for a high-speed rail (HSR) link between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

China’s war on debt causes stocks to drop ~ 5 May 2017http://www.en.netralnews.com/news/business/read/5236/china...s.war.on.debt.causes.stocks.to.dropAccording to Fitch, total debt reached 258% of China’s GDP last year, a ratio it expects will grow this year and next. Beijing needs to keep interest rates at relatively low levels to not cause companies to default on their mounting debts.

Shanghai Composite ~ Fall off the cliff

Shanghai Composite closed @ 3,103.04 (-24.33, -0.78%) on 5 May 2017

Chart of the day: Another plunge coming for Shanghai Composite? ~ 4 May 2017https://www.investing.com/analysis/chart-of-the-day:-another-plunge-coming-for-shanghai-composite-200187025

The Shanghai Composite fell below its 200dma, for the first time since the end of September 2016. A new uptrend in the index started during mid-2014, but only successfully made it above the 200dma during October of that year. Since then the index has soared, up 120% from 2,300 to 5,200 over the course of just 11 months, from July 2014 to June 2015.

At that point it fell. From the time it crossed below the 200dma on September 2015 at 3,600, it dropped 1,000 points in just four months, through January 2016.

Finally, at the beginning of October 2016 it crossed back above the 200dma and climbed 8% to 3,300 in just two months, through the end of November.

Now it has crossed below again, for the first time since October. It would appear the fluctuations are accelerating.

However, on April 27, the index formed a hammer, a bullish candlestick. Since then, it has been holding support. Only a decisive close below 3,100 would signal a further decline.

Why the 200d Moving Average is important:The Moving Average is the average price of an asset over a certain period of time. It is calculated by adding up the closing prices over a certain number of time periods, and then dividing by that number of time periods. MA’s are used to measure momentum. The most watched MA is the 200 day, it is widely recognized as the dividing line between bull and bear territory. The primary trend is considered to be up as long as the market is trading above its 200-day moving average but this trend turns bearish whenever the market closes below this average.

When a stock is in a bear-market territory, the last low will be retested and the share price will move much further down, forming a new record low.

Singapore's Rowsley to convert mixed-use Iskandar project into healthcare hub ~ 22 Sep 2015http://www.reuters.com/article/rowsley-iskandar-idUSL4N11S1ZC20150922Singapore's Rowsley Ltd will convert its Iskandar project in Malaysia into a healthcare hub instead of a mixed-use township, amid a rising supply of homes in the special economic zone.

Sino Grandness has revised its rights issue basis to five rights shares for every 11 held (5:11), compared with a ratio of 1:3 previously. The maximum number of shares that can be issued is now 332.3 million instead of 243.7 million. The revised issue price is S$0.21 for each rights share, a discount of 28.8% to the Tuesday market closing price of S$0.295. This was down from the previous proposed issue price of S$0.31. ~ 16 Dec 2016

Imagine a superb poker player who asks you for a loan to finance his nightly poker playing. For every $100 he gambles, he’s willing to put up $3 of his own money. He wants you to lend him the rest. You will not get a stake in his winning. Instead, he’ll give you a fixed rate of interest on your $97 loan.

The poker player likes this situation for two reasons. First, it minimizes his downside risk. He can only lose $3. Second, borrowing has a great effect on his investment — it gets leveraged. If his $100 bet ends up yielding $103, he has made a lot more than 3 percent — in fact, he has doubled his money. His $3 investment is now worth $6.

But why would you, the lender, play this game? It’s a pretty risky game for you. Suppose your friend starts out with a stake of $10,000 for the night, putting up $300 himself and borrowing $9,700 from you. If he loses anything more than 3 percent on the night, he can’t make good on your loan.

Not to worry — your friend is an extremely skilled and prudent poker player who knows when to hold ,em and when to fold ,em. He may lose a hand or two because poker is a game of chance, but by the end of the night, he’s always ahead. He always makes good on his debts to you. He has never had a losing evening. As a creditor of the poker player, this is all you care about. As long as he can make good on his debt, you’re fine. You care only about one thing — that he stays solvent so that he can repay his loan and you get your money back.

But the gambler cares about two things. Sure, he too wants to stay solvent. Insolvency wipes out his investment, which is always unpleasant — it’s bad for his reputation and hurts his chances of being able to use leverage in the future. But the gambler doesn’t just care about avoiding the downside. He also cares about the upside. As the lender, you don’t share in the upside; no matter how much money the gambler makes on his bets, you just get your promised amount of interest.

If there is a chance to win a lot of money, the gambler is willing to take a big risk. After all, his downside is small. He only has $3 at stake. To gain a really large pot of money, the gambler will take a chance on an inside straight.

As the lender of the bulk of his funds, you wouldn't want the gambler to take that chance. You know that when the leverage ratio — the ratio of borrowed funds to personal assets — is 32–1 ($9700 divided by $300), the gambler will take a lot more risk than you’d like. So you keep an eye on the gambler to make sure that he continues to be successful in his play.

But suppose the gambler becomes increasingly reckless. He begins to draw to an inside straight from time to time and pursue other high-risk strategies that require making very large bets that threaten his ability to make good on his promises to you. After all, it’s worth it to him. He’s not playing with very much of his own money. He is playing mostly with your money. How will you respond?

You might stop lending altogether, concerned that you will lose both your interest and your principal. Or you might look for ways to protect yourself. You might demand a higher rate of interest. You might ask the player to put up his own assets as collateral in case he is wiped out. You might impose a covenant that legally restricts the gambler’s behavior, barring him from drawing to an inside straight, for example.

History repeats itself. The future is but a repetition of the past..."The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."

Hiccups at Turkish ops not hurting IHH ~ 29 May 2017http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/05/29/hiccups-at-turkish-ops-not-hurting-ihh/However, RHB Research believed that there would be an impact on the group’s quarterly earnings in the first half of the year stemming from start-up losses from Gleneagles HK, which began operations in March 2017.

IHH facing wrath of volatile Turkish lira ~ 23 May 2017http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/05/23/ihhs-lira-problems/IHH that has a substantial interest in Turkey wants to reduce its risk in the country due to the currency volatility of the lira against the US dollar and the spiralling medical inflation there.

IHH Healthcare Q1 net profit doubles to RM470m ~ 21 May 2017http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2017/05/21/ihh-healthcare-q1-net-profit-doubles-rm470mIHH Healthcare Bhd (IHH) saw its net profit in the first quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2017 double to RM470 million, from RM235.5 million in the previous corresponding quarter, following a RM313.4 million gain from its divestment of a non-core 6.07% stake in Apollo Hospitals.

Hiccups at Turkish ops not hurting IHH ~ 29 May 2017http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/05/29/hiccups-at-turkish-ops-not-hurting-ihh/However, RHB Research believed that there would be an impact on the group’s quarterly earnings in the first half of the year stemming from start-up losses from Gleneagles HK, which began operations in March 2017.

IHH facing wrath of volatile Turkish lira ~ 23 May 2017http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/05/23/ihhs-lira-problems/IHH that has a substantial interest in Turkey wants to reduce its risk in the country due to the currency volatility of the lira against the US dollar and the spiralling medical inflation there.

IHH Healthcare Q1 net profit doubles to RM470m ~ 21 May 2017http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2017/05/21/ihh-healthcare-q1-net-profit-doubles-rm470mIHH Healthcare Bhd (IHH) saw its net profit in the first quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2017 double to RM470 million, from RM235.5 million in the previous corresponding quarter, following a RM313.4 million gain from its divestment of a non-core 6.07% stake in Apollo Hospitals.

IHH (Q0F.SI) ~ Bearish Symmetrical Triangle Breakout

IHH Q0F.SI had a black marubozu and traded @ S$1.835 (-0.02, -1.1%) with 22,500 shares done on 29 May 2017 at 0925 hrs.

“If the proposed sales are successful, k1 intends to distribute proceeds back to shareholders and will effectively become a shell company,” says RHB analyst Goh Han Peng.

According to Goh, Guggenheim Capital has grown its assets under management significantly since k1 first invested in 2011. Its AUM has more than doubled around US$240 billion currently.

While the sale of stake in Guggenheim Capital is expected to fetch a handsome premium over its book value, Goh notes that k1 is already currently trading at a 70% premium over its book value of 48 cents per share.

“The market is thus pricing in $150 million of excess value over its book value,” he says. “We think this is an opportune time to take some money off the table given the uncertainty over the eventual price obtained.”

As at 11.22am, shares of k1 Ventures are trading 6 cents lower at 77.5 cents.

Title: Re: Casino Stocks
Post by: zuolun on May 30, 2017, 09:16:58 AM

AirAsia X Q1 results hit by higher fuel expenses ~ 24 May 2017http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2017/05/24/airasia-x-q1-results-hit-higher-fuel-expensesAirAsia X Bhd continued to register a sharp fall in its net profit with a slump of 94.2% to RM10.34 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017 against RM179.49 million in the same quarter a year ago, dragged down by higher fuel expenses.

"Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend and step off before it is discredited." - George Soros

My views on Instacom

Salvador Dali15 January 2016

Instacom has been hogging the limelights since November last year. My feel is that if it was just a pump and dump, they would have dumped already. We have to be cognisant of the fact that it is no longer a telco tower kind of company, in fact profits from that industry alone will amount to less than 5% of this year's earnings.

So, where is Instacom going? Or should I refer to as Vivocom?

a) Anyone who do not believe in their "china-play" story can sell, and would have already... looking at the shaky global developments in recent weeks (oil going below US$30; yuan devaluing; China sending troops to fight ISIS; etc...). No doubt about that, if you don't wish to part of the story, you can opt out anytime and many have done so. Which is a revealing tell for the price action / volume to see the shares still above 28 sen after all that.

b) Hence, despite all that has happened, the share price has settled very nicely above 27.5-28.5 sen. which is comfy above the small 5% new share issue levels. Even if those people wanted to get out, there is sufficient liquidity for them to exit.

c) Look at Edra, look at 1MDB, who has been buying? Look at Penang under water tunnel, who had the better financing. Gemas? etc... what else. Its not that Malaysia wants to get China's investments, but no one else seems to be looking or wanting to invest! The Middle East has problems of their own, Japan as well... no one seems keen to provide long term FDI... except China. I do not need to go into why Vivocom has a good relationship with CCRC and possibly other China mega counters. Please read the CIMB report.

d) Either the entire thing is a scam, or its true... how to scam with CRCC?, the projects are there already, it is one of the top 100 listed companies in China, they can see the news, they can read the blurbs. Yes, it may take some time for markets to give the stock a proper valuation - currently we are looking at less than 5x prospective earnings. I do believe if and when the quarterly figures come in in line or above valuations/expectations, we will see huge spurts then.

e) To be fair, you cannot ascribe a 10x earnings on a completely new RTO business, no matter how attractive it may be. It has to be gradual, as more confirmation on quarterly earnings and new projects being won.

To that end, I have just come across a faed technical chartist and got his email on his view on Instacom. Our ways of interpreting data may be different, but I think we come to the same conclusion.

IHH Healthcare is an international provider of healthcare services in markets where it thinks the demand for quality healthcare is growing rapidly. Right now, the company is active in Asia (this includes Singapore and Malaysia), Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Asia remains the company’s largest market. Some of the company’s brands include Gleneagles, Mount Elizabeth, Pantai, ParkwayHealth and Acibadem.

IHH Healthcare released its 2017 first quarter earnings two weeks ago. Quarterly revenue was up 8% year-on-year, but net profit (excluding exceptional items) was down 15%.

The company’s top-line benefited from organic growth and contributions from new hospitals. But the pre-operating and start-up costs of the new hospitals ate into the bottom-line. In March, HH Healthcare opened two new hospitals, namely, the 500-bed Gleneagles Hong Kong Hospital, and the 350-bed Acibadem Altunizade Hospital in Turkey.

Looking at the rest of 2017, IHH Healthcare “expects to face cost pressures on several fronts.” These include “continued competition for talent, pre-operational and start-up costs from new operations, and higher purchasing costs with the stronger US Dollar.” The company’s mitigation measures include “prudent cost management, taking on higher revenue intensity procedures and ramping up new facilities to achieve optimum operational efficiencies.”

Instacom has been hogging the limelights since November last year. My feel is that if it was just a pump and dump, they would have dumped already. We have to be cognisant of the fact that it is no longer a telco tower kind of company, in fact profits from that industry alone will amount to less than 5% of this year's earnings.

So, where is Instacom going? Or should I refer to as Vivocom?

a) Anyone who do not believe in their "china-play" story can sell, and would have already... looking at the shaky global developments in recent weeks (oil going below US$30; yuan devaluing; China sending troops to fight ISIS; etc...). No doubt about that, if you don't wish to part of the story, you can opt out anytime and many have done so. Which is a revealing tell for the price action / volume to see the shares still above 28 sen after all that.

b) Hence, despite all that has happened, the share price has settled very nicely above 27.5-28.5 sen. which is comfy above the small 5% new share issue levels. Even if those people wanted to get out, there is sufficient liquidity for them to exit.

c) Look at Edra, look at 1MDB, who has been buying? Look at Penang under water tunnel, who had the better financing. Gemas? etc... what else. Its not that Malaysia wants to get China's investments, but no one else seems to be looking or wanting to invest! The Middle East has problems of their own, Japan as well... no one seems keen to provide long term FDI... except China. I do not need to go into why Vivocom has a good relationship with CCRC and possibly other China mega counters. Please read the CIMB report.

d) Either the entire thing is a scam, or its true... how to scam with CRCC?, the projects are there already, it is one of the top 100 listed companies in China, they can see the news, they can read the blurbs. Yes, it may take some time for markets to give the stock a proper valuation - currently we are looking at less than 5x prospective earnings. I do believe if and when the quarterly figures come in in line or above valuations/expectations, we will see huge spurts then.

e) To be fair, you cannot ascribe a 10x earnings on a completely new RTO business, no matter how attractive it may be. It has to be gradual, as more confirmation on quarterly earnings and new projects being won.

To that end, I have just come across a faed technical chartist and got his email on his view on Instacom. Our ways of interpreting data may be different, but I think we come to the same conclusion.

China company that soared 4,500% is puzzled again by new surge ~ 8 Jun 2017https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-07/china-company-that-soared-4-500-is-puzzled-again-by-new-surgeWins Finance climbed as much as 184% to $230 on Wednesday -- up from about $20 at the start of this month -- before Nasdaq halted trading of the shares.

This Chinese stock soared 4,500% on Nasdaq and no one knows why ~ 31 Mar 2017https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-30/this-chinese-stock-soared-4-500-on-nasdaq-and-no-one-knows-whyWins Finance Holdings, a thinly traded stock made it onto a widely followed index, but that’s probably not the reason its price surged.

Nasdaq halts Wins Finance Holdings Inc. ~ 7 Jun 2017http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/nasdaq-halts-wins-finance-holdings-inc-20170607-01020The Nasdaq Stock Market announced that trading was halted today in Wins Finance Holdings Inc. at 12:53:20 Eastern Time for "additional information requested" from the company at a last sale price of $205.01.

Imagine a superb poker player who asks you for a loan to finance his nightly poker playing. For every $100 he gambles, he’s willing to put up $3 of his own money. He wants you to lend him the rest. You will not get a stake in his winning. Instead, he’ll give you a fixed rate of interest on your $97 loan.

The poker player likes this situation for two reasons. First, it minimizes his downside risk. He can only lose $3. Second, borrowing has a great effect on his investment — it gets leveraged. If his $100 bet ends up yielding $103, he has made a lot more than 3 percent — in fact, he has doubled his money. His $3 investment is now worth $6.

But why would you, the lender, play this game? It’s a pretty risky game for you. Suppose your friend starts out with a stake of $10,000 for the night, putting up $300 himself and borrowing $9,700 from you. If he loses anything more than 3 percent on the night, he can’t make good on your loan.

Not to worry — your friend is an extremely skilled and prudent poker player who knows when to hold ,em and when to fold ,em. He may lose a hand or two because poker is a game of chance, but by the end of the night, he’s always ahead. He always makes good on his debts to you. He has never had a losing evening. As a creditor of the poker player, this is all you care about. As long as he can make good on his debt, you’re fine. You care only about one thing — that he stays solvent so that he can repay his loan and you get your money back.

But the gambler cares about two things. Sure, he too wants to stay solvent. Insolvency wipes out his investment, which is always unpleasant — it’s bad for his reputation and hurts his chances of being able to use leverage in the future. But the gambler doesn’t just care about avoiding the downside. He also cares about the upside. As the lender, you don’t share in the upside; no matter how much money the gambler makes on his bets, you just get your promised amount of interest.

If there is a chance to win a lot of money, the gambler is willing to take a big risk. After all, his downside is small. He only has $3 at stake. To gain a really large pot of money, the gambler will take a chance on an inside straight.

As the lender of the bulk of his funds, you wouldn't want the gambler to take that chance. You know that when the leverage ratio — the ratio of borrowed funds to personal assets — is 32–1 ($9700 divided by $300), the gambler will take a lot more risk than you’d like. So you keep an eye on the gambler to make sure that he continues to be successful in his play.

But suppose the gambler becomes increasingly reckless. He begins to draw to an inside straight from time to time and pursue other high-risk strategies that require making very large bets that threaten his ability to make good on his promises to you. After all, it’s worth it to him. He’s not playing with very much of his own money. He is playing mostly with your money. How will you respond?

You might stop lending altogether, concerned that you will lose both your interest and your principal. Or you might look for ways to protect yourself. You might demand a higher rate of interest. You might ask the player to put up his own assets as collateral in case he is wiped out. You might impose a covenant that legally restricts the gambler’s behavior, barring him from drawing to an inside straight, for example.

Treasury borrowing aggravates Turkey’s interest rate woes ~ 28 Jun 2017http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/06/turkey-government-pressure-on-banks-lower-interest-rate.htmlThe US dollar's rally against the Turkish lira in the last 3 months of 2016 and early 2017 had pushed up industrial costs and, therefore, the prices of products. In the food sector, supply shortages led to speculative price hikes, further stoking inflation. Hence the crucial question here is, “How can interest rates decrease without inflation falling to single digits?”

Singapore's healthcare players are shifting strategy as rising costs and growing competition erode the city-state's appeal as a destination for medical tourism.

Companies like IHH Healthcare Bhd and Raffles Medical Group are expanding overseas at a robust pace, leveraging on the brand names they've already established to draw increasingly affluent patients in populous countries such as China and India.

Whether they'll succeed is open to debate. The upfront costs of opening a hospital are huge and margins are already under pressure, say industry watchers. However, the companies lack other options for growth.

Although the rapidly aging Singapore population and the shortage of beds at government-run facilities could help demand, the increasing reliance on lower-margin domestic patients poses a risk to the profits of private hospitals.

IHH, Asia's largest healthcare firm which is listed in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, operates the well-known Mount Elizabeth and Gleneagles hospitals in the city-state. In March, it opened the 500-bed Gleneagles Hong Kong and is in the process of setting up hospitals in the Chinese cities of Chengdu, Nanjing and Shanghai that will open in the next four years.

IHH already operates hospitals in Malaysia, India and Turkey.

In an interview with the Financial Times published this week, Tan See Leng, IHH's chief executive, said that he is looking at a "bunch of assets" in India as the healthcare giant expands beyond its foothold in the southern part of the country. Reports in other media have pointed to Fortis Group, one of India's largest healthcare chains, as a likely target.

Meanwhile, smaller rival Raffles Medical is in the process of building hospitals in Shanghai and Chongqing that are slated for completion sometime next year.

According to IHH's 2016 annual report, the average revenue per admitted patient in Singapore stood at 27,543 ringgit ($6,418) in FY2015/16, down slightly from 27,660 ringgit in the previous financial year. The cost incurred by the average patient in Singapore was more than four times the 5,915 ringgit paid by the average patient at its Malaysian hospital, although that was partly due to the more complex cases treated in Singapore.

Singapore has long been regarded as a premier healthcare destination in Asia thanks to its highly trained doctors and well-equipped private and government-run hospitals. However, costs are high in comparison to neighboring ASEAN countries such as Malaysia and Thailand, where the quality of care has improved so much over the past decade that more and more Singapore residents are seeking medical treatment there.

Bumrungrad International, Thailand's top hospital, said its international patients include Singaporean nationals and residents, who visit Bangkok for health screening and preventative medicine as well as to consult specialists in areas such as obstetrics and gynecology.

"We are also 25-35% cheaper than Singaporean private hospitals, and have been benchmarked by third parties to have similar or higher quality levels as the top hospitals there," said Sudi Narasimhan, the hospital's corporate director of marketing and business development.

Bumrungrad is about 24% owned by Bangkok Dusit Medical Services PCL, Thailand's biggest healthcare group, although it operates independently from its major shareholder.

Singapore has not provided medical tourism figures in recent years but data from Malaysia Health Travel Council show 921,000 visitors sought treatment in the country last year, up more than 40% from 643,000 in 2011. Bumrungrad said it sees around 520,000 international patients from over 190 countries each year.

Besides IHH and Raffles Medical, the other Singapore healthcare players include unlisted Thomson Medical, Health Management International Ltd, whose operations include two hospitals in Malaysia, and specialist medical clinics such as TalkMed and Singapore O&G.

In a report last week, UOB Kay Hian said that medical tourism growth in Singapore looked set to slow further despite the global boom in demand for quality healthcare, with private hospitals having to rely more on lower-margin local patients.

While Singapore still remains a compelling medical tourist destination in terms of service quality and clinical outcomes, foreign patient growth may slow gradually due to competition from neighboring ASEAN countries, the brokerage said.

UOB Kay Hian also said the average bill size per patient in Singapore is now growing at an average of 1-2% a year, down from 5% as recently as in the financial year ended March 2014, based on data provided by IHH.

Despite Singapore's loss of competitiveness in the market for international patients, analysts believe private hospitals at home could benefit from a spillover from public hospitals. According to UOB Kay Hian, bed occupancy levels at government-owned hospitals remain between 82-97%, exceeding the standard of 82-85% set by the Australian Medical Association and the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine.

Maybank Kim Eng said that while growth in Singapore has slowed due to a decrease in medical tourism, "the structural growth drivers remain positive driven by an aging population, rising affluence, increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and demand for quality services."

Looking ahead, analysts are more positive in their outlook for IHH as compared with Raffles Medical, although some warn that valuations are high at 53 times forecast earnings compared to the average price-earnings ratio of around 40 for healthcare groups in Asia.

The high valuation is due to IHH's larger geographical footprint and exposure to faster growing markets such as Malaysia and India.

However, there is caution about Raffles Medical's near-term prospects due to margin pressures in Singapore, its main source of revenue, as well as upfront costs associated with its expansion into China.

"Margins are now at a low but could go even lower...Margin pressure will only further intensify due to start-up costs for its Singapore hospital extension opening in 4Q17 and start-up costs for its 700-bed hospital in Chongqing due to open in mid-18," CIMB Research said in a recent report.

Agribusiness giant Wilmar International down 3.5% at S$3.36 after Morgan Stanley downgrades stock to "equal-weight" from "overweight"; slashes target price by over 20% to S$3.09. Cuts 2017-18 profit-before-tax estimates by 23% and 34% as it lowers refining and crushing margin expectations. "Declining palm oil prices could pressure upstream PBT, and a glut in refining capacity in Indonesia and Malaysia could erode any potential downstream margin gains from lower feedstock costs given lower palm oil prices," it says. Expects planned China listing, announced last month, to provide near-term support for share price. "Weighing its near-trough valuations, near-term earnings trajectory and valuation support from the proposed China listing, we think that Wilmar should trade in a tight band in the coming quarters." Stock worst performer on Straits Times Index; STI down 0.9%.

Wilmar ~ Bearish Island Reversal

Wilmar gapped down and closed with a black marubozu @ S$3.35 (-0.13, -3.7%) with high volume done at 26.1m shares on 30 Jun 2017.

Duty Free International (DFI), the multi-channel duty free and duty paid retail group in Malaysia with over 40 outlets, has announced earnings of RM15.1 million (S$4.8 million) for 1Q18 ended May 31, representing a 24.1% decline from the RM19.8 million posted in 1Q17 a year ago.

Revenue for 1Q18 fell 13.1% to RM167.5 million from RM192.6 million in 1Q17, largely due to lower demand from customers for certain products as well as the imposition of Goods and Services Tax (GST) at the border outlets and duty free zones with effect from Jan 1 this year.

Correspondingly, DFI reported a profit before income tax of RM22.0 million for 1Q18. This was 12.5% lower compared to RM25.1 milion for 1Q17. Affecting the profit before income tax was a net loss in foreign exchange of RM6.0 million in 1Q2018 compared to a net foreign exchange gain of RM1.4 million in 1Q2017. However, a decrease in transportation cost of RM1.4 milion and a recognition of gain from changes in fair value of option of RM6.0 million partially offset the negative effects.

The group’s inventories further decreased from RM200 million as at Feb 28 to RM173.8 million as at end May. This was in line with the group’s efforts to manage its working capital more efficiently. Net assets increased to RM608.6 million as at May 31 compared to RM552.3 million as at Feb 28, largely due to a significant decrease in total liabilities of RM71.1 million. This was part of the efforts to continuously strengthen the balance sheet of the group.

In its outlook, DFI says the business environment which it operates in is expected to remain challenging given the current economic environments with a volatile Malaysian ringgit against the US dollar, rise of inflationary cost and weak consumers’ purchasing sentiment.

The group says it will continue its efforts to identify new market opportunities and strategies to further strengthen its operational efficiency, together with close monitoring of the key cost drivers, in order to stay competitive and profitable in the remaining quarters of the financial year.

The emphasis is that big institutional players had been unloading M1 shares since 2 Mar 2015 (refer to M1 chart dated 18 Jan 2016 below), without the participation of the 3 major SSHs.

M1 is riding on the sub-wave (iii) of the corrective Wave-C down. Once the targeted price @ S$1.71 is broken convincingly with high volume, the next new target price would be S$1.40.

Zuolun bro, that gives a div yield of 8% based on estimated dividend of 11.2 cts

Title: Re: Casino Stocks
Post by: odie on July 28, 2017, 07:52:05 PM

K1 sells interest in Guggenheim Capital, to suspend trading on completion as it mulls optionsFriday, July 28, 2017 - 10:09ANGELA #~K1 Ventures has agreed to sell off its entire interest in Guggenheim Capital for a gross cash consideration of US$221 million (S$300.4 million) , which will boost its earnings per share by about 31 Singapore cents for the financial year ending June 30, 2017.

The book value, or the value of the asset entered in K1 Ventures' books, is about S$143 million.

KI, in which Temasek Holdings has a deemed interest of 36.04 per cent, had on numerous occasions during the past several years, told shareholders of its intention to divest its interest and distribute the surplus cash back. The disposal is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2017.

The Singapore-listed company will rid 100,000 Series A preferred units, 250,000 common units, 11.11 million detachable warrants, and an additional 1.85 million common units.

sentifi.comMarket voices on:

"The Guggenheim Disposal is in accordance with the original investment documents,'' K1 said on Friday, adding that it is also part of the company's on-going process of monetising its investments.

SEE ALSO: Premature to bet on a merger of Singapore's leading yard groupsThe sale is also expected to boost K1's net tangible assets per share by 29 Singapore cents for the financial year ended June 30, 2017, after taking into consideration estimated adjustments for factors such as net assets and income taxes.

On June 13, 2011, K1 completed a US$100 million investment in Guggenheim, which is a US-based privately held financial services firm with more than US$200 billion in assets under management, receiving the preferred units, the common units, and the warrants.

Following the completion of the disposal, K1 Ventures would have disposed of all or substantially all of its assets and property. It would take steps to suspend the trading of its shares from the date of completion of the sale.

After distributing its excess cash to its shareholders, K1 plans to commence voluntary liquidation. However, it will also consider other options including voluntary delisting or reverse takeover of the company, amongst others which are consistent with its stated objective of monetization of investments and distribution of excess cash.

At 09:59am, K1 was trading around S$0.730 a share, up S$0.045, or almost 7 per cent.

In technical analysis, history repeats itself. The theory behind chart pattern is based on this assumption. The idea is that certain patterns repeat many times, and that these patterns signal a certain high probability move in a stock. Based on the historic trend of a chart pattern setting up a certain price movement, look for these patterns to identify trading opportunities. Follow the smart money; they sell, you follow sell, not buy.

Looks like I got no fate with stocks starting with k.Last time I buy keppel corp, I have to wait for 1 year before got profits so I can sell. Lol

In 2011, I longed Keppel Corp shares at S$7.70 per share and set my SL @ S$7.30. When that price was triggered, I realized a total loss of S$6,000 for that trade.

Back then, my 师姐 was also trying to pick-bottom on Keppel Corp with 3 times higher volume than me. She started higher @ S$8.00 per share and had a tight SL of 2% per trade. Every trade she did was a loss; each failed attempt was a 2% cut loss. Her trading style was an eye-opening to me because after several failed attempts and finally @ S$7.00 (at the KRD), she increased her long positions substantially whenever the share price shot higher. “行到水穷处，坐看云起时。”

The Proposed Disposal of the Property at 15A Tat Seng Drive Singapore 535225 - Grant of Option to Purchase

Datapulse Technology Limited announced that the Company has, on 26 July 2017, granted an option to purchase (the "Option") to an independent third party purchaser for the sale of its property situated at 15A Tai Seng Drive Singapore 535225 for an aggregate consideration of S$53,500,000 on the terms and subject to the conditions of the Option. The Option shall remain valid up to 4.00 p.m. on 9 August 2017.

The Property is a leasehold property granted by the Jurong Town Corporation with a 30-year lease tenure commencing from 16 August 1993 with a further term of 30 years. It is a six-storey industrial building comprising production and warehouse areas as well as ancillary offices, and has a gross floor area of approximately 15,174 square meters.

The excess of the proceeds from the Proposed Disposal over the book value of the Property is approximately S$45,109,000 and The net gain on the proposed Disposal is expected to be approximately S$44,474,000.

The Company intends to deploy part of the proceeds from the Proposed Disposal to acquire a new premise to continue its existing business and operations. The remaining proceeds from the Proposed Disposal will be used as general working capital for the requirements of the Group’s businesses and operations and for the Group to undertake new investment opportunities that may arise in the future.

Malaysia launches inquiry over forex losses under Mahathir ~ 8 Aug 2017https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/malaysia-launches-inquiry-over-forex-losses-under-mahathir/2017/08/08/079677f4-7c04-11e7-b2b1-aeba62854dfa_story.htmlMalaysia’s government on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017 launched an inquiry into massive foreign exchange losses by the central bank more than 2 decades ago, in a probe that could lead to criminal prosecution for Mahathir.

The forex scandal in early 90s: Estimated losss: As high as RM30 billionhttps://wtfreport.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/the-forex-scandal-in-early-90s/

The administration of Prime Minister Najib Razak regularly boasts of reducing poverty and increasing per capita income, and yet Malaysians complain even more often about the increasing difficulty of making ends meet. Whether it is a perception problem or not, ministers are acknowledging that this is the key concern for an election due in 15 months. The Straits Times' Malaysia Bureau delves into this prickly issue.

Inflation in Malaysia hit an eight-year high in January and kept climbing up to March. Many blame the 6% GST introduced in 2015 for rising prices, and a weaker ringgit for pushing up the costs of imports.

Before every major festival, Malaysia announces a list of goods - such as turkey for Christmas and pork for Chinese New Year - under price control.

But for the ongoing Ramadan fasting month, government enforcers went on an unprecedented 10-day raid of 11,895 business premises, issuing fines to errant traders for overpricing 10 items ranging from coconuts to mung beans.

With the general election due in 15 months and complaints over rising costs getting louder, the enforcement by the governing Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition is timely.

Worryingly for BN, which has ruled South-east Asia's third biggest economy since independence in 1957, inflation hit an eight-year high in January and kept climbing up to March. Many blame the 6 per cent goods and services tax (GST) introduced in 2015 for rising prices, and a weaker ringgit for pushing up the costs of imports.

International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed, the longest-serving Cabinet member in the Najib Razak administration bar the premier himself, said in a Bloomberg interview recently that the cost of living was the primary concern for voters.

"People are worried that the dollar is not stretching as far as it used to. People remain unhappy about GST," he said.

Malaysia's top pollster, Merdeka Centre, also found that economic concerns were foremost on the minds of 74 per cent of voters, far ahead of well-documented ethnic and political discord, at 3 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.

Its survey results from March, which were shared with The Straits Times, also showed that inflation was the most important issue for six out of 10 Malaysians, and for more than three-quarters of Muslims, who make up two-thirds of the electorate.

"The biggest factor is the worsening economy, which includes rising cost of living, and dwindling opportunities and employment. But as election day draws near, the poor will be showered with goodies, and will be counted on to deliver for BN," S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies senior fellow Oh Ei Sun told The Straits Times.

The government insists that it has contained inflation. Since Prime Minister Najib took power in 2009, annual inflation has crept over 3 per cent only twice.

But the other half of the cost of living equation is income. Per capita annual income has dropped from US$10,345 since Datuk Seri Najib's narrow 2013 election victory to US$8,821 (S$12,180) last year - a sharp 15 per cent slide.

Ms Hanisah Shaari, a mother of seven, makes just RM500 (S$161) a month on her own, selling chicken chop at a stall in a quiet Kuala Lumpur street across from her low-cost flat, where she has stopped paying her RM124 monthly rental.

"I have no plans. I have tried to think of ways to resolve this money issue but it just results in a headache," she said.

Datuk Seri Najib boasted last month that the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked Malaysia's cost of living as the lowest in South-east Asia.

"We have done a lot of work to ease the people's burden related to the rising cost of living," said the Prime Minister, listing efforts such as price control, assistance for housing and entrepreneurs and, of course, the cash aid scheme 1Malaysia People's Aid or BR1M.

Since BR1M started in 2012, almost RM19 billion has been disbursed.

But his assertion based on the EIU data has been challenged by unionists. The Malaysian Trades Union Congress' Sarawak secretary Andrew Lo noted that the EIU study was intended for expatriates and business travellers, who measure cost in US dollars.

The Malaysian currency lost a third of its value against the greenback from 2013 to last year, although it has recovered slightly in recent months. The ringgit is also down by 23% against the Singapore dollar in the past four years.

The Malaysian currency lost a third of its value against the greenback from 2013 to last year, although it has recovered slightly in recent months. The ringgit is also down by 23% against the Singapore dollar in the past four years.

Palm Oil futures: Support and resistance levels ~ 7 Aug 2017http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/gnanasekaar-t/copyofbl08technical-3/article9805918.eceSupports are at MYR 2,545, 2,510 and 2,430. Resistances are at 2,610, 2,645 and 2,725

Singapore’s Wilmar hiking stake in debt-laden top sugar producer Shree Renuka ~ 28 Jul 2017https://www.vccircle.com/singapores-wilmar-hiking-stake-in-debt-laden-top-sugar-producer-shree-renuka/Wilmar will invest $120m in Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd as part of a plan that also involves the company restructuring its massive debt. It will own approximately 38% stake in Shree Renuka, a hike of 11% from the existing 27%.

IHH Healthcare is an international provider of healthcare services in markets where it thinks the demand for quality healthcare is growing rapidly. Right now, the company is active in Asia (this includes Singapore and Malaysia), Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Asia remains the company’s largest market. Some of the company’s brands include Gleneagles, Mount Elizabeth, Pantai, ParkwayHealth and Acibadem.

IHH Healthcare released its 2017 first quarter earnings two weeks ago. Quarterly revenue was up 8% year-on-year, but net profit (excluding exceptional items) was down 15%.

The company’s top-line benefited from organic growth and contributions from new hospitals. But the pre-operating and start-up costs of the new hospitals ate into the bottom-line. In March, HH Healthcare opened two new hospitals, namely, the 500-bed Gleneagles Hong Kong Hospital, and the 350-bed Acibadem Altunizade Hospital in Turkey.

Looking at the rest of 2017, IHH Healthcare “expects to face cost pressures on several fronts.” These include “continued competition for talent, pre-operational and start-up costs from new operations, and higher purchasing costs with the stronger US Dollar.” The company’s mitigation measures include “prudent cost management, taking on higher revenue intensity procedures and ramping up new facilities to achieve optimum operational efficiencies.”

Hedge fund managers and investment bankers are tossing this question around a lot these days -- prompted, perhaps, by the 10th anniversary of BNP Paribas' suspension of funds exposed to the U.S. subprime mortgage problem. The French bank's move in August 2007 was one of the major milestones leading up to the global financial crisis.

The term "big short" entered the lexicon as the title of a 2010 best-seller by U.S. author Michael Lewis. The book describes how certain investors predicted the collapse of the American housing bubble and reaped huge profits by short-selling related assets. Now, market players are keen to spot the next assets poised for a plunge.

Slowly but steadily, U.S. stocks are setting one new high after another. Spreads on low-rated bonds, meanwhile, have fallen to the lowest level since the crisis. When tensions on the Korean Peninsula rise, investors typically buy yen and unload stocks -- a trend fueled by short sellers convinced something will have to give.

Hedge funds and traders are on the lookout for potential "amplifiers" of chaos. These factors could fan the flames once trouble flares up.

Since the crisis, financial institutions have increased their capital bases and tougher regulations have strengthened the financial system. But because it is more difficult for the institutions to take risks, liquidity has dried up in the corporate bond market.

The amount of corporate bonds held by brokerages and other traders has fallen to about one-fifth of the level a decade ago, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Dealers' role of buying and holding bonds is not functioning like it used to. And as low interest rates have spurred an increase in bond issuances by low-rated companies, the outstanding balance of issues has swelled by as much as 60% over the last decade, creating shaky ground for trading.

If investment trusts and exchange-traded funds holding corporate bonds move to dump some of the excess they have built up over the last 10 years, it could make smooth trading impossible and trigger a panic, warned a bond trader at a U.S. brokerage house.

Currency cracks?

Predicting catalysts of hysteria is not an exact science, however.

Besides North Korea, U.S. retailers are seen as another candidate. There is talk that Sears Holdings may default on its debt, after years of struggling to adjust to the rise of e-commerce. Premiums on five-year Sears credit default swaps have risen above 30%, meaning the market sees a nearly 90% chance of a bust.

Yet, for now at least, the overall corporate bond market is relatively calm. The rate of defaults involving corporate bonds and loans to speculative-grade companies is around 2%, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Having learned from the crisis 10 years ago, market players tend to zero in on risks related to debt and the financial system. But Kenichi Hirayama, chief strategist at Tokio Marine Asset Management, turns his gaze elsewhere: "A crisis, if any, may start in the currency system," he said.

Consider the Hong Kong dollar. Though the city has close economic ties with mainland China, its currency moves independently from the yuan. The Hong Kong dollar is often used for the flight of funds from the main land. Not surprisingly, the Chinese government sees the alternative currency as a nuisance.

If Beijing were to eliminate the Hong Kong dollar, it would create serious confusion for U.S. and European investors in the city.

In the recent history of financial crises, corporate debt soared as a result of the dot-com bubble. The U.S. housing bubble shifted the question of liabilities to the household sector. Governments pulled their countries out of the global crisis by piling up debt in the form of bonds -- absorbed by central banks as part of their quantitative monetary easing.

Given the flow of debt, risks appear to be accumulating around the currencies managed by central banks.

A stock market decline may be around the corner, according to Elliott Wave analysis ~ 10 May 2017http://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-stock-market-decline-may-be-around-the-corner-according-to-elliott-wave-analysis-2017-05-10

A bear market could hit U.S. stocks any time now ~ 15 Aug 2017http://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-bear-market-could-hit-us-stocks-any-time-now-2017-08-15When stocks are as overvalued as they are today, almost anything can become a bear market trigger. And sometimes it takes nothing at all.

Larry Berman: Assessing the risk of a market correction ~ 14 Aug 2017http://www.bnn.ca/larry-berman-assessing-the-risk-of-a-market-correction-1.829673The psychology of testing breakout levels is an important one. A test of the 115 level, the lows seen prior to the election, would suggest that the main reason for the rally (tax restructuring) will be very disappointing. We won’t know what that looks like until October or so.

Firm says it has yet to switch to direct selling in China amid move against pyramid schemes

By Rachael Boon15 Aug 2017

Best World International fell by as much as 21 per cent at one point yesterday after a Chinese government regulator said it is cracking down on pyramid schemes.

China's State Administration for Industry & Commerce (SAIC) announced yesterday a new three-month campaign against recruitment by pyramid sellers.

Shares of Singapore-listed Best World International, which is a direct selling firm and beauty product distributor, closed down 12 per cent or 18.5 cents at $1.355, although they were down 21 per cent earlier in the trading session.

Best World told the Singapore Exchange in a filing yesterday that it was not aware of any information not previously announced regarding recent unusual trading activity.

Its fall mimicked the share performance of other firms with similar business models such as nutrition firm Herbalife; Nu Skin Enterprises, known for skin care; and health nutrition business Usana Health Sciences. Herbalife declined more than 5 per cent to close at a three-month low of US$62.42, Nu Skin dropped more than 7 per cent to US$56.01, its lowest close since May 31, and Usana fell 7.5 per cent to US$54.40, its lowest close since mid-April, Reuters noted.

The SAIC did not call out these firms specifically, but such "so-called multilevel-marketing businesses have faced allegations that they use a pyramid sales model", said Bloomberg.

Best World yesterday said the SAIC statement was widely anticipated in the light of recent reports on the drowning of a university student, "who allegedly fell victim to a certain pyramid selling scheme's advertisement posted on a popular recruitment website". The case is still under investigation, it noted.

The firm, which has over 400,000 members in 12 countries, added: "Although we hold a direct selling licence, we have not converted our business in China to direct selling yet." It said its DRs' Secret, Avance and Optrimax products can be bought at outlets and workshops, so the "statement has little or no impact on our China business".

A recent Maybank Kim Eng report on Best World said regulatory changes would be detrimental to direct selling in its markets, "similar to Indonesia's restriction on healthcare imports in 2009". The firm also faces "reputational risks caused by fraud or fake-product scandals for other direct-selling players or Best's members", said the report, and its failure to expand in China could hurt share price valuation.

Best World said its preparations for conversion to direct selling are in line with the SAIC's statement. New service outlets are also subject to approval, and are not within or near school compounds.

"Our membership criteria, upon conversion to direct selling, shall also not accept students, civil servants, police and military personnel and such," it said, adding that it is fully compliant with the rules and regulations of business operations under China's laws.

Imagine a superb poker player who asks you for a loan to finance his nightly poker playing. For every $100 he gambles, he’s willing to put up $3 of his own money. He wants you to lend him the rest. You will not get a stake in his winning. Instead, he’ll give you a fixed rate of interest on your $97 loan.

The poker player likes this situation for two reasons. First, it minimizes his downside risk. He can only lose $3. Second, borrowing has a great effect on his investment — it gets leveraged. If his $100 bet ends up yielding $103, he has made a lot more than 3 percent — in fact, he has doubled his money. His $3 investment is now worth $6.

But why would you, the lender, play this game? It’s a pretty risky game for you. Suppose your friend starts out with a stake of $10,000 for the night, putting up $300 himself and borrowing $9,700 from you. If he loses anything more than 3 percent on the night, he can’t make good on your loan.

Not to worry — your friend is an extremely skilled and prudent poker player who knows when to hold ,em and when to fold ,em. He may lose a hand or two because poker is a game of chance, but by the end of the night, he’s always ahead. He always makes good on his debts to you. He has never had a losing evening. As a creditor of the poker player, this is all you care about. As long as he can make good on his debt, you’re fine. You care only about one thing — that he stays solvent so that he can repay his loan and you get your money back.

But the gambler cares about two things. Sure, he too wants to stay solvent. Insolvency wipes out his investment, which is always unpleasant — it’s bad for his reputation and hurts his chances of being able to use leverage in the future. But the gambler doesn’t just care about avoiding the downside. He also cares about the upside. As the lender, you don’t share in the upside; no matter how much money the gambler makes on his bets, you just get your promised amount of interest.

If there is a chance to win a lot of money, the gambler is willing to take a big risk. After all, his downside is small. He only has $3 at stake. To gain a really large pot of money, the gambler will take a chance on an inside straight.

As the lender of the bulk of his funds, you wouldn't want the gambler to take that chance. You know that when the leverage ratio — the ratio of borrowed funds to personal assets — is 32–1 ($9700 divided by $300), the gambler will take a lot more risk than you’d like. So you keep an eye on the gambler to make sure that he continues to be successful in his play.

But suppose the gambler becomes increasingly reckless. He begins to draw to an inside straight from time to time and pursue other high-risk strategies that require making very large bets that threaten his ability to make good on his promises to you. After all, it’s worth it to him. He’s not playing with very much of his own money. He is playing mostly with your money. How will you respond?

You might stop lending altogether, concerned that you will lose both your interest and your principal. Or you might look for ways to protect yourself. You might demand a higher rate of interest. You might ask the player to put up his own assets as collateral in case he is wiped out. You might impose a covenant that legally restricts the gambler’s behavior, barring him from drawing to an inside straight, for example.

Technical Analysis: History repeats itself. The future is but a repetition of the past.

"What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."

“已有的事，后必再有。已行的事，后必再行。日光之下并无新事。”

In technical analysis, history repeats itself. The theory behind chart pattern is based on this assumption. The idea is that certain patterns repeat many times, and that these patterns signal a certain high probability move in a stock. Based on the historic trend of a chart pattern setting up a certain price movement, look for these patterns to identify trading opportunities. Follow the smart money; they sell, you follow sell, not buy.

Firm is 'ready to rumble' but the outcome of its bite-the-bullet plan hinges on lenders' goodwill

By Anita Gabriel24 August 2017

WE all recognise that "good guy" in the boxing arena, enduring back-to-back jabs whom underdog-fans faithfully root for even as he staggers to the ground after a powerful upper cut from his opponent. Remember how we'd anxiously hope he would tap into his inner might, get up and punch back and knock his rival out of the ring?

That's how some may feel about Singapore-listed Ezion Holdings and its bout with a brutal oil slump that has left many of its peers in the offshore and marine space flat on the floor, flailing.

Those sentiments were manifested over a week ago when Asia's biggest liftboat operator disclosed a disastrous set of second-quarter results.

It was harder to stomach because this company had tried so valiantly to stand its ground since oil prices plumbed to lows in 2014 and, only now, seems most vulnerable when the commodity is on recovery.

Over a week ago, Ezion reported a second-quarter loss of US$2.57 million from a net profit of US$8.14 million a year ago this is its third straight quarter of being in the red with the chief culprits being depressed utilisation rates of its service rigs and offshore support vessels and weak charter rates.

There were blaring red flags - cash on hand has slid to US$94 million and operating cash inflow turned into an outflow of US$2.4 million. With borrowings of some US$1.5 billion and banks wary of taking on more risk given the soured loans in the oil and gas sector, the potential knock-on effect on Ezion's financing abilities - not immediately but eventually - very swiftly turned into a real worry.

But Ezion, majority owned by low-key and able chief executive Chew Thiam Keng, who built the firm up from a languishing electrical company in 2007 and not long after turned it into a thriving provider of offshore marine services to the oil and gas sector, did not let investors sit with that fear alone. It also imbued some hope, just a little but good enough - for now.

On Aug 14, the day of the results release, it called for a mandatory trading suspension (trading in its shares were halted since Aug 10). Shortly after, Ezion told shareholders about a make-it-or-break-it survival plan, which essentially involved talking to lenders (and maybe, also bondholders) to reform its financing and capitalisation structure.

"The exercise took the market by surprise as Ezion is seen as one of the 'last men standing' among SGX-listed asset owners in the O&G space, given its strong market positioning, positive operating cash flow (up to first quarter 2017) and decent cash balance," said DBS Group Research.

The outcome of Ezion's bite-the-bullet plan could take several months and hinges on goodwill from lenders and for believers, a Hail Mary, as Ezion itself somewhat admitted to when it asked for shareholders' "understanding and prayers" to achieve a favourable outcome.

Up to now, Ezion and its chief have done just about all they could given the hard times.

Last year, Mr Chew and wife, who is also a shareholder, ploughed a substantial amount of money into the company under a cash call. Based on data from Spiking, a home-grown app that tracks stock trades by sophisticated investors, Mr Chew has not sold any shares since 2014 - the year of the oil price crash.

In fact, he scooped up some four million Ezion shares between December 2014 and August last year between S$1.175 and 22 Singapore cents apiece.

Given that the counter was last traded at 19.7 Singapore cents, can there be better comfort than the fact that Ezion's fate partly lies in the hands of a reliable steward with skin in the game who had stood by the stock over and over again?

There were other endeavours. Earlier in the year, Ezion found breathing space when it negotiated a repayment plan with banks to match the cash flow of its rigs. In February, it inked a pact with one of China's largest state-owned power firms to diversify its income stream to offshore wind farms.

So, don't be mistaken. Ezion has not fallen it has not defaulted on debt nor is troubled like Swiber Holdings, Ezra Holdings or Nam Cheong.

This is Ezion fighting or as they call it in the boxing world, "ready to rumble" - the debt talks are pre-emptive in the event its cash position remains under pressure beyond three or four quarters.

But it's a "precarious" situation nevertheless, says UOB Kay Hian analyst Foo Zhiwei in a recent report. "A failure to get banks and bond-holders to agree to a debt deal could put the company in severe financial strain by next year, which could have dire consequences on its survivability," he added.

And so, for the sake of Ezion, a clear favourite in the offshore and marine space, may the best man win.

“The crowd always loses because the crowd is always wrong. It is wrong because it behaves normally.” ~ Fred C. Kelly

Cautionary tale of research reportshttp://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/02/27/cautionary-tale-of-research-reports/

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, -0.72% a gauge of the greenback against six rivals, traded at 92.5590, back up from an intraday low of 92.465, which was its lowest level in the year-to-date. On the week, the index lost, 0.9%.

The WSJ Dollar Index BUXX, -0.59% a broader measure of the buck’s movement, shed 0.6% to 85.63, also the lowest level of the year.

Malaysia's GDP should be measured in both dollars and ringgit, of course ~ 25 Aug 2017https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2017/08/25/malaysias-gdp-should-be-measured-in-both-dollars-and-ringgit-of-course/#1da6baac38b4

Linear Regression Channelhttp://www.onlinetradingconcepts.com/TechnicalAnalysis/LinRegChannel.htmlSimilar to the 200-day Moving Average, large institutions often look at long term Linear Regression Channels. .

A Linear Regression Channel consists of 3 parts:

Linear Regression Line (直线回归线): A line that best fits all the data points of interest.

Upper Channel Line: A line that runs parallel to the Linear Regression Line and is usually 1 to 2 standard deviations above the Linear Regression Line.

Lower Channel Line: This line runs parallel to the Linear Regression Line and is usually 1 to 2 standard deviations below the Linear Regression Line.

Sept 7 is the Key Date in British Pound / Euro Exchange Rate's OutlookModified: Saturday, 19 August 2017 09:46 Written by Gary Howes Subscribe to our Newsletter Follow us on Twiiter Exchange rate decline The immediate outlook for the Pound to Euro exchange rate rests with the message delivered by the European Central Bank at their September policy meeting - here are the issues to consider.Pound Sterling needs a game-changer aginst the Euro.Technical studies tell us that the trend is still unrelentingly pointed lower across all timeframes, so readers hoping for a stronger UK currency must reconcile themselves with the uncomfortable truth that values will likely continue to get worse before they get better in the current market environment.The Euro "has seen a strong rally since April this year and reinforced its large base set above 0.8852. This keeps the immediate risk still higher," says Christopher Hine, a technical strategist with Credit Suisse commenting on the EUR/GBP outlook.He believes that there is a very real prospect that the EUR/GBP breaks through resistance at 0.9142 and ultimately hits his “core target” at 0.94.This gives a fall in the Pound to Euro exchange rate to 1.0633.Pound to Euro trend is downAbove: Don't try and catch a falling knife: The Pound is going lower according to technical analysts.Of course this might or might not come to pass and the GBP/EUR could turn around or crack even lower.What is clear to us is that until we get some real meat in Brexit talks, GBP/EUR’s near-term future rests largely with what happens to the Euro.How much more strength can it offer, and what could halt or accelerate the strength?The answer almost certainly rests with the European Central Bank.The Only Game in Town: The ECBIn July the Euro shot higher as - at a press briefing - ECB President Mario Draghi effectively offered a sanguine response to a question as to whether or not he thought the Euro’s rapid rise to date was of little concern."It's true there have been movements in bond price, asset price, exchange rates and so on," noted Draghi, "but financing conditions remain supportive."We reflected that the ECB President had effectively green-lighted the Euro’s strength to markets who stocked up on yet more Euros.“Draghi’s verbal shrug-of-the-shoulders on the exchange rate encouraged the subsequent EUR appreciation,” says Mark Wall, Chief Economist at Deutsche Bank.

Above: Watch the full press conference where Draghi shows little concern for a rising Euro.This narrative has however been questioned on August 17 after the ECB released the minutes to its July meeting and the message appears to be a little different.The account of the ECB’s July monetary policy meeting have been published in which “concerns were expressed about the risk of the exchange rate overshooting in the future.”This line spooked markets and the Euro gave up ground to the likes of Sterling and the US Dollar.So we have mixed messaging here - on one hand Draghi is saying he isn’t too fussed and on the other the minutes to the meeting Draghi had just attended suggest the ECB is actually fussed.Markets will take this mixed messaging on board and will therefore wait for more direction. It’s by no means a signal of intent by the ECB that it will pursue a weaker exchange rate.For sure, the ECB will be happy that markets have calmed down somewhat; they would rather the Euro moved higher at a more pedestrian pace.It could therefore be that the Pound to Euro exchange rate continues to head lower, albeit at a slower pace.But time and again we have heard central banks talk their currencies down to only see it head in the other direction as the key point about verbal intervention is it needs to be backed up by action.The second the market figures out that the words coming out of the Chief’s mouth are hollow, they will exact punishment.That is why the ECB’s approach to its tapering programme is ultimately where the Euro’s fate lies.Get up to 5% more foreign exchange by using a specialist provider by getting closer to the real market rate and avoid the gaping spreads charged by your bank for international payments. Learn more here.What is Tapering and Why Does it Matter?The European Central Bank is currently buying €60BN worth of bonds a month under its quantitative easing programme which seeks to ensure price financial stability in the Eurozone - it is hoped injecting this amount of cash into the economy will stimulate growth and push prices up such that inflation reaches a target of 2%.But months of better-than-forecast economic growth suggests prices will soon rise to hit target and the bond purchase programme therefore becomes redundant at best, dangerous at worst.For markets the question becomes how and when the €60BN bond buying programme - also known as quantitative easing - is shut down.How this is done is incredibly important - go too fast and interest rates and the Euro shoot higher which could potentially destabilise the Eurozone. Go too slow and the economy could overheat and inflation surges beyond the 2% target.Markets expect the ECB to announce a slower pace of asset purchases in September, with actual tapering likely to begin in early 2018.Economists believe the ECB will likely bring monthly purchases down by €15–20 billion and should take at least a quarter.Anticipation for such a move has seen the Euro move notably higher against the US Dollar, Pound Sterling and most other major currencies over the course of 2017.The risk now is that the ECB - having seen how high the Euro has climbed - decides to push back the date of tapering. They could also announce a smaller-than-expected taper amount which would see the programme run for longer than many are expecting.For instance, Deutsche Bank’s view is the ECB may announce at the press conference on 26 October that it is extending QE until mid-2018 at the slower rate of EUR40bn per month.Such a move would certainly shake the Euro lower; the key vulnerability for the currency right now therefore is the whole debate around tapering.The Way Forward: September 7 = The Euro’s Day with DestinyThe Euro’s route forward is likely to be determined by communications from key ECB board members and communications from the Bank itself at official meetings.Watch Draghi’s appearance in Jackson Hole, Wyoming where he is to attend the Kansas Fed’s Symposium.In the past he has signalled policy intentions at the event. While press reports suggest this time no such communication is likely, he could still directly address the Euro’s valuation.Again, talk will likely have limited impact on the Euro.The biggie for the Euro therefore comes at the September ECB meeting where forecasts from the Bank’s staff are also released. This would likely be where the intent to taper is announced.No taper announcement in September will surely hurt the Euro hard. The meeting takes place on September 7.So until then, remember the trend is your friend - or rather not your friend if you are dismayed by the Pound’s relentless decline in value.

行到水穷处，坐看云起时。“A star will shine in the midst of darkness. A flower will bloom in the midst of dirt. A camel will flourish in the midst of doubt. A diamond will form in the midst of pressure. A champion will rise in the midst of hardship.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo

SINGAPORE Press Holdings (SPH) is divesting its stakes in Mediacorp entities, it announced on Friday.

This decision follows Mediacorp's decision to cease its newspaper Today, making it fully digital.

The stakes - 20 per cent in Mediacorp TV Holdings and 40 per cent in Mediacorp Press- will be sold for S$18 million and SPH expects to record a write down of approximately S$31 million in its books.

This follows an earlier-announced sale of online classifieds business 701Search, on which SPH is expected to recognise a profit of about $150 million.

An agreement was reached with Mediacorp on Friday for the latter to buy the stakes and the deal, expected to be completed at the end of September, is subject to regulatory approval.

Once completed, both entities will become wholly owned subsidiaries of Mediacorp. Mediacorp TV Holdings owns Channels 5, 8 and U and Mediacorp Studios; while Mediacorp Press operates the Today newspaper.

The deal comes 12 years after SPH bought the stakes as part of a media industry asset consolidation in 2005. During the consolidation, SPH transferred a TV channel to Mediacorp and took a 20 per cent stake in Mediacorp TV Holdings. It also merged its free newspaper Streats with Today, and invested in a 40 per cent stake of Mediacorp Press.

SPH executive director and CEO-Designate Ng Yat Chung said the proposed divestment will allow SPH to focus on its core media business.

"Free-to-air television is not core to SPH's business and the divestment of the stake in Today follows Mediacorp's decision to turn it into a fully digital product. This rationalisation will allow us to focus our energies on serving our audience and advertisers best through a suite of strong media products across the print, digital and radio platforms," he said.

As part of the deal announced on Friday, Mediacorp will also stop publishing any soft copy or computer-readable format of Today that has the look and feel of a hardcopy version of the newspaper, for a period of five years.

SPH has 17 newspaper titles which cater to different interests and needs.

Apart from its flagship dailies in four languages - The Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao, Berita Harian and Tamil Murasu, SPH has freesheet The New Paper, business daily The Business Times, Chinese evening papers Shin Min Daily and Lianhe Wanbao, and student publications.

On an average day, 2.5 million individuals, or 59 per cent of people above 15 years old, read one of SPH's news publications in print copies or one of its digital platforms.

In a separate statement, Mediacorp announced that Todaywill discontinue its print edition and become the first newspaper in Singapore to be fully digital. Its last print edition will go out at end-September.

This means about 40 roles will be made redundant, Mediacorp said. It added that it will explore options to redeploy affected staff to other roles and where this is not possible, eligible staff will be offered severance packages and outplacement support.

Cache Logistics Trust (CACHE) issued a rights issue of 162.6 million new units to raise gross proceeds of $102.7m.

According to OCBC Investment Research, rights units will be offered at a ratio of 18 new units for every 100 existing ones. Units were priced 63 cents each.

Proceeds will be used to partially repay CACHE’s debt to reduce aggregate leverage and create additional headroom.

Here's more from OCBC:

On a pro forma basis, FY16 DPU would decrease by 10.9% from 7.725 S cents to 6.882 S cents.

Similarly, pro forma FY16 NAV per unit would decrease by 3.3% from S$0.779 to S$0.753.

The rights units will rank pari passu to the existing units, and will include the right to distributions which have accrued for 3Q17.

This will reduce CACHE’s gearing from 43.4% as at 30 Jun 2017 to 35.5%. Against the regulatory gearing limit of 45%, Cache will have an enlarged debt headroom of S$281.1m for potential acquisitions as well as asset enhancement initiatives.

U.S. dollar tumbles as investors weigh impact of Hurricane Irma on economy ~ 9 Sep 2017https://www.fxempire.com/news/article/u-s-dollar-tumbles-as-investors-weigh-impact-of-hurricane-irma-on-economy-436133The EUR/USD finished the week at 1.2034, up 1.46%, putting it up more than 14% this year.

US dollar takes a battering amid fears of delay in rate hike ~ 9 Sep 2017http://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/us-dollar-takes-a-battering-amid-fears-of-delay-in-rate-hikeThe S$ has surged 7.9% to the US dollar since Dec 28 last year, when it hit 1.4517. It was at 1.3370 yesterday - a level not seen since Aug 16 last year.

AHEAD of full-year results due in October, shares in media and property group Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) were hotly traded on Monday, falling 10 Singapore cents to S$2.64, or 3.7 per cent, as at 1pm.

More than 9.5 million shares were traded, making it the top stock by value traded.

According to a report by UOB Kay Hian on Aug 31, where the broker did a page count, advertisements at flagship paper The Straits Times continued to decline year on year in the group's fourth quarter, which ended on Aug 31.

Total advertisements were flat quarter on quarter. Yet, it is too early to call a bottom, the broker said.

"Underlying structural issues persist, as noted by the widening divergence in print revenue and GDP (gross domestic product), where a strong correlation used to exist."

It had maintained a "hold" call and a target price of S$2.85 and an entry price of S$2.60, noting that SPH's share price is not expected to decline sharply unless advertising sees a larger-than-expected decline.

行到水穷处，坐看云起时。“A star will shine in the midst of darkness. A flower will bloom in the midst of dirt. A camel will flourish in the midst of doubt. A diamond will form in the midst of pressure. A champion will rise in the midst of hardship.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo

Regardless of how PPB is bullish on Wilmar, the emphasis now is that major SSHs had been progressively unloading Wilmar shares at lower low prices. Follow the smart money; they sell, you follow sell, not buy.

In technical analysis, history repeats itself. The theory behind chart pattern is based on this assumption. The idea is that certain patterns repeat many times, and that these patterns signal a certain high probability move in a stock. Based on the historic trend of a chart pattern setting up a certain price movement, look for these patterns to identify trading opportunities. Follow the smart money; they sell, you follow sell, not buy.

I am looking to buy back my 12k shares of Indoagri which i sold at 1.62 on 30/11/2011should i buy just double my original number of shares which is 24k shares or i buy 42k shares (1.62 x 12k / 0.46 current price)?

I am looking to buy back my 12k shares of Indoagri which i sold at 1.62 on 30/11/2011should i buy just double my original number of shares which is 24k shares or i buy 42k shares (1.62 x 12k / 0.46 current price)?

thanks for your advice

IndoAgri ~ On the edge; immediate support @ S$0.45 must hold...... :'(

my dad has comfort from ipohe subscribe some and then the company gave him bonus sharesbest thing is he does not have a trading acct to sell the sharesLol

In technical analysis, history repeats itself. The theory behind chart pattern is based on this assumption. The idea is that certain patterns repeat many times, and that these patterns signal a certain high probability move in a stock. Based on the historic trend of a chart pattern setting up a certain price movement, look for these patterns to identify trading opportunities. Follow the smart money; they sell, you follow sell, not buy.

In technical analysis, history repeats itself. The theory behind chart pattern is based on this assumption. The idea is that certain patterns repeat many times, and that these patterns signal a certain high probability move in a stock. Based on the historic trend of a chart pattern setting up a certain price movement, look for these patterns to identify trading opportunities. Follow the smart money; they sell, you follow sell, not buy.

Tat Hong says in ongoing talks on potential transactions, appoints adviserTHU, SEP 21, 2017 - 4:18 PMANGELA #~CRANE specialist Tat Hong Holdings, which has halted trading in its shares after they rallied more than 5 per cent on Thursday, revealed that it has been approached by certain parties on a potential transaction.

Its shares were hovering around S$0.405 each, up S$0.020 a share, or 5.195 per cent, at the time trading was halted around 03.18pm. More than three million shares changed hands.

Referring to the unusual trading volume and sharp hike in its stock price, Tat Hong said:"The board wishes to inform shareholders that the company has been approached by certain parties in connection with a potential transaction in relation to the securities of the company."

"The discussions are ongoing and there is no certainty or assurance whatsoever that any transaction will arise from these discussions."

It has appointed Rippledot Capital Advisers as its financial adviser in connection with such approaches.

Dow Theory: The Three-Trend Markethttp://www.investopedia.com/university/dowtheory/dowtheory2.aspIn Dow theory, the primary trend is the major trend of the market, which makes it the most important one to determine. This is because the overriding trend is the one that affects the movements in stock prices. The primary trend will also impact the secondary and minor trends within the market.

Trading with primary and secondary trendshttps://www.binaryoptions.net/trading-with-primary-and-secondary-trends/

I bought IndoAgri @ S$0.445 near the bottom in a "meltdown" on 3rd Dec 2008.

After a V-shaped rebound (from Oct 2008 to Dec 2010), IndoAgri collapsed again in a slow and steady manner (from S$2.92 to S$0.45 as at 19 Apr 2017, see IndoAgri's monthly chart below); I did not re-enter (long) because it hit a last low of S$0.40 on 28 Jan 2016.

As a rule of thumb or in technical analysis, when a stock is in a bear-market territory, the last low will be retested and the share price will move much further down, forming a new record low.

IndoAgri Q2 profit more than triples to 99.3b rupiah (S$10.1 million) ~ 28 Jul 2017INDOFOOD Agri Resources' net profit more than tripled to 99.3 billion rupiah (S$10.1 million), or 0.75 Singapore cent per share, in the second quarter of the year on the back of improved production and contributions from a Brazil sugar operation.

Indofood's shares opened slightly higher on Friday morning before most of the gains were pared. Analysts have said consumer spending in Indonesia has yet to show signs of a major recovery, and that Indofood's earnings in the short term are likely to be determined by the fluctuation in commodity prices such as palm oil, wheat and skim milk.

On April 26, Indofood announced the sale of its remaining 29.94% stake in Chinese vegetable processing company China Minzhong Food for 235.5 million Singapore dollars ($168 million). The return on the China Minzhong investment has been lower than expected, the company said, and the sale will enable it to "further strengthen its financial position."

Rabobank revises Q4 Malaysia crude palm oil price forecast higher to MR2,600/mt ~ 27 Sep 2017https://www.platts.com/latest-news/agriculture/singapore/rabobank-revises-q4-malaysia-crude-palm-oil-price-27875235Rabobank revised upwards its forecast of the Q4 2017 crude palm oil front-month futures price on Bursa Malaysia to MR2,600/mt or $618.09/mt in September, from an average of MR2,400/mt predicted in August, the company said in its commodity forecast note released Wednesday.

Firm is 'ready to rumble' but the outcome of its bite-the-bullet plan hinges on lenders' goodwill

By Anita Gabriel24 August 2017

WE all recognise that "good guy" in the boxing arena, enduring back-to-back jabs whom underdog-fans faithfully root for even as he staggers to the ground after a powerful upper cut from his opponent. Remember how we'd anxiously hope he would tap into his inner might, get up and punch back and knock his rival out of the ring?

That's how some may feel about Singapore-listed Ezion Holdings and its bout with a brutal oil slump that has left many of its peers in the offshore and marine space flat on the floor, flailing.

Those sentiments were manifested over a week ago when Asia's biggest liftboat operator disclosed a disastrous set of second-quarter results.

It was harder to stomach because this company had tried so valiantly to stand its ground since oil prices plumbed to lows in 2014 and, only now, seems most vulnerable when the commodity is on recovery.

Over a week ago, Ezion reported a second-quarter loss of US$2.57 million from a net profit of US$8.14 million a year ago this is its third straight quarter of being in the red with the chief culprits being depressed utilisation rates of its service rigs and offshore support vessels and weak charter rates.

There were blaring red flags - cash on hand has slid to US$94 million and operating cash inflow turned into an outflow of US$2.4 million. With borrowings of some US$1.5 billion and banks wary of taking on more risk given the soured loans in the oil and gas sector, the potential knock-on effect on Ezion's financing abilities - not immediately but eventually - very swiftly turned into a real worry.

But Ezion, majority owned by low-key and able chief executive Chew Thiam Keng, who built the firm up from a languishing electrical company in 2007 and not long after turned it into a thriving provider of offshore marine services to the oil and gas sector, did not let investors sit with that fear alone. It also imbued some hope, just a little but good enough - for now.

On Aug 14, the day of the results release, it called for a mandatory trading suspension (trading in its shares were halted since Aug 10). Shortly after, Ezion told shareholders about a make-it-or-break-it survival plan, which essentially involved talking to lenders (and maybe, also bondholders) to reform its financing and capitalisation structure.

"The exercise took the market by surprise as Ezion is seen as one of the 'last men standing' among SGX-listed asset owners in the O&G space, given its strong market positioning, positive operating cash flow (up to first quarter 2017) and decent cash balance," said DBS Group Research.

The outcome of Ezion's bite-the-bullet plan could take several months and hinges on goodwill from lenders and for believers, a Hail Mary, as Ezion itself somewhat admitted to when it asked for shareholders' "understanding and prayers" to achieve a favourable outcome.

Up to now, Ezion and its chief have done just about all they could given the hard times.

Last year, Mr Chew and wife, who is also a shareholder, ploughed a substantial amount of money into the company under a cash call. Based on data from Spiking, a home-grown app that tracks stock trades by sophisticated investors, Mr Chew has not sold any shares since 2014 - the year of the oil price crash.

In fact, he scooped up some four million Ezion shares between December 2014 and August last year between S$1.175 and 22 Singapore cents apiece.

Given that the counter was last traded at 19.7 Singapore cents, can there be better comfort than the fact that Ezion's fate partly lies in the hands of a reliable steward with skin in the game who had stood by the stock over and over again?

There were other endeavours. Earlier in the year, Ezion found breathing space when it negotiated a repayment plan with banks to match the cash flow of its rigs. In February, it inked a pact with one of China's largest state-owned power firms to diversify its income stream to offshore wind farms.

So, don't be mistaken. Ezion has not fallen it has not defaulted on debt nor is troubled like Swiber Holdings, Ezra Holdings or Nam Cheong.

This is Ezion fighting or as they call it in the boxing world, "ready to rumble" - the debt talks are pre-emptive in the event its cash position remains under pressure beyond three or four quarters.

But it's a "precarious" situation nevertheless, says UOB Kay Hian analyst Foo Zhiwei in a recent report. "A failure to get banks and bond-holders to agree to a debt deal could put the company in severe financial strain by next year, which could have dire consequences on its survivability," he added.

And so, for the sake of Ezion, a clear favourite in the offshore and marine space, may the best man win.

“The crowd always loses because the crowd is always wrong. It is wrong because it behaves normally.” ~ Fred C. Kelly

Cautionary tale of research reportshttp://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/02/27/cautionary-tale-of-research-reports/

Over the past few years, industry players had been facing market weakness and competitive pricing pressures, and Tat Hong’s results have also been reflecting a mixed performance across its main business segments (Crane Rental, Tower Crane Rental, Distribution, General Equipment Rental). Tat Hong’s 1QFY18 results continued to show softness albeit with some bright spots. Revenue was up 1% YoY to S$118.3m and was 7.4% higher QoQ. All segments except Crane Rental recorded better revenues YoY – Tower Crane Rental (+8%), General Equipment Rental (+25%), and Distribution (+7%), but Crane Rental division was down 17% due to lower rental rates in Singapore, lower activity levels in Batam, and completion of projects in Hong Kong. As margins were also weaker for the Crane Rental and Tower Crane Rental division, gross profit declined 13% to S$30.4m with a net loss of S$5.1m vs. S$3.6m in 1QFY17, mainly due to an absence of tax benefits for this quarter.

Some positive signs

As of the latest quarter, Crane Rental division accounted for ~27% of overall revenue, with Tower Crane Rental at 22%, General Equipment Rental at 12% and Distribution at 39%. Tower Crane Rental saw strong utilisation rates at ~81% with involvement in projects across the building, infrastructure, transport and power generation sectors. General Equipment Rental division in Australia saw better utilisation rates with longer hire periods as well as new projects. Distribution revenue had better sales in Australia but lower demand for other markets, while we keep in mind that segment’s contributions can be lumpy.

Ceasing coverage

Management has noted some early signs of improved market sentiments in its key market Australia. The group also expects continued healthy demand in China, which bodes well for the Tower Crane Rental division.However, weakness in ASEAN countries is likely to continue weighing on performance for its Crane Rental division. Thus against this backdrop, the group will continue with its cost control initiatives and fleet rationalization exercise. With that said, due to an internal reallocation of resources, we are ceasing coverage on the stock.

The purchase is carried out through Jiayao Investments Limited, owned by Denis Wu Rongzhao, China Hongxing's former CEO and executive director.

China Hongxing said under the proposed deal, it would dispose off all its businesses in China held under Profitstart Group Limited.

In a filing to the Singapore Exchange on Thursday morning, the company said the 100 million yuan package comprises 28 million yuan in cash, which is intended to be made available for distribution to minority shareholders only.

The Wu family comprising Wu Hanjie, Wu Rongguang, and Denis Wu, will renounce their rights to receive any dividend arising from the distribution of the cash consideration. The Wu family holds about 33 per cent of China Hongxing. The renounced dividends will be up to 9.24 million yuan.

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SEE ALSO: Ex-China Hongxing CEO offers 100m yuan for operating units

There will also be a waiver by Mr Denis Wu and Mr Wu Rongguang of all the monies owed to them by China Hongxing, amounting to some 64.4 million yuan.

As at the date of the agreement, the buyer has paid the cash consideration in Singapore dollars into an escrow account held by a Singapore law firm acting as the escrow agent.

Alfred Cheong, independent director and chairman of the audit committee of China Hongxing said: "There is finally some light at the end of the tunnel for minority shareholders since the voluntary suspension of China Hongxing in 2011. As the efforts to resume the trading of the company's shares were not successful, this proposed disposal potentially offers some closure for minority shareholders, especially since the company faces a possible delisting.

"After the completion of the proposed disposal, the company will become a clean listed shell, which will be available for a reverse takeover in future."

ComfortDelGro could lose more drivers, as number keen to jump ship hits over 3,000 ~ 29 Sep 2017http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/more-3000-comfortdelgro-cabbies-could-join-rival-operators-grab

Warren Buffett: "The single most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power. If you’ve got the power to raise prices without losing business to a competitor, you’ve got a very good business. And if you have to have a prayer session before raising the price by 10%, then you’ve got a terrible business."http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-pricing-power-beats-good-management-berkshire-hathaway-2011-2

Technical Analysis: History repeats itself. The future is but a repetition of the past..."What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."

Telstra hits five-year low on dividend concerns ~ 28 Sep 2017http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/telstra-hits-fiveyear-low-on-dividend-concerns/news-story/92866121969371b8efad6a96f89c5571Telstra’s shares fell as low as $3.44 during the session before closing at $3.48, down 1.4% and the lowest daily close since April 2012.

SingTel to up stake in Bharti Airtel for $657 mn; Temasek books huge loss ~ 18 August, 2016https://www.vccircle.com/singtel-stake-bharti-airtel-657-mn-temasek-books-huge-loss/Temasek had acquired 4.99% effective stake in Bharti Airtel through a deal worth $2 billion (S$3 billion back then) in FY08. It had entered into an agreement to buy the stake in July 2007 when the stock valuations were nearing their peak. Temasek is taking back just about one-third of what it invested in Singapore dollars and half of what it had put in US dollars, into Bharti Airtel, its single biggest India investment to date.

Turkish lira hits 5-months high against US dollar ~ 2 Jun 2017https://www.dailysabah.com/finance/2017/06/02/turkish-lira-hits-5-months-high-against-us-dollarThe U.S. dollar/Turkish lira (TL) exchange rate dropped to TL 3.5140 Friday, marking the lowest level it has seen this year.

Turkish Lira down 67% against the US dollar since 2008.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CzONAcKWEAA4y0U.jpg)

Hiccups at Turkish ops not hurting IHH ~ 29 May 2017http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/05/29/hiccups-at-turkish-ops-not-hurting-ihh/However, RHB Research believed that there would be an impact on the group’s quarterly earnings in the first half of the year stemming from start-up losses from Gleneagles HK, which began operations in March 2017.

IHH facing wrath of volatile Turkish lira ~ 23 May 2017http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/05/23/ihhs-lira-problems/IHH that has a substantial interest in Turkey wants to reduce its risk in the country due to the currency volatility of the lira against the US dollar and the spiralling medical inflation there.

IHH Healthcare Q1 net profit doubles to RM470m ~ 21 May 2017http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2017/05/21/ihh-healthcare-q1-net-profit-doubles-rm470mIHH Healthcare Bhd (IHH) saw its net profit in the first quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2017 double to RM470 million, from RM235.5 million in the previous corresponding quarter, following a RM313.4 million gain from its divestment of a non-core 6.07% stake in Apollo Hospitals.

DBS Group Research flagged potential upside to Singtel's share price, noting a valuation discount on the telco's shares versus its regional peers.

In its Oct 2 research note, DBS stated that despite about 38 per cent rise in the valuation of regional telco stocks over the last three years, Singtel has been flattish perhaps due to mounting losses in its digital businesses.

But it highlighted an official guidance from Singtel for narrower digital losses for FY18 as well as the telco's digital advertising arm achieving an earlier-than-expected earnings break-even.

"Singtel's core plus digital business is trading at only 5.6 times of its EV/EBITDA (enterprise value to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation multiple) compared to seven times for M1, nine times for StarHub, and 7.5 times regional telco average," the research note stated.

Instead of bundling the core and digital businesses together, which will lead to a lower EV/EBITDA multiple, the research note argued that investors ought to value the core business at seven times EV/EBITDA and the digital business separately even as the latter is not profitable yet.

It projected that Singtel could pay special dividends of S$600 million to S$1.5 billion taking forecast FY18 yield to between 6 per cent and 7.5 per cent without breaching a two times net debt to EBITDA ratio.

It valued Singtel at a target price of S$4.30, with a 17 per cent upside compared to the stock's last traded price of S$3.68.

JOINT VENTURE WITH KBS PACIFIC ADVISORS PTE. LTD.(II) RECEIPT OF ELIGIBILITY-TO-LIST FOR THE PROPOSED LISTINGOF KEPPEL-KBS US REIT1. IntroductionKeppel Corporation Limited (“KCL”) refers to its announcement dated 14 September 2017 on itsplans to carry out an initial public offering (the “IPO”) and listing of a US commercial real estateinvestment trust on the Main Board of Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (the “SGXST”)which will be jointly sponsored by Keppel Capital Holdings Pte. Ltd. (“Keppel Capital”), awholly owned subsidiary of KCL, and KBS Pacific Advisors Pte. Ltd. (“KBS Pacific Advisors”).KCL wishes to announce that Keppel Capital has today agreed to acquire from KBS PacificAdvisors a 50% interest in Keppel-KBS US REIT Management Pte. Ltd. (“Keppel-KBS US REITManager”) for an aggregate consideration of USD27,500,000 (“Purchase Consideration”, andsuch acquisition, “Acquisition”). Keppel-KBS US REIT Manager is the proposed manager ofKeppel-KBS US REIT, which is intended to be an authorised1 real estate investment trust listed onthe SGX-ST.2. Keppel-KBS US REIT and Receipt of Eligibility-To-ListKeppel-KBS US REIT will have an investment strategy of principally investing, directly or indirectly,in a diversified portfolio of income-producing commercial assets and real estate-related assets inthe key growth markets of the United States. The initial public offering portfolio will consist of 11office assets which will be injected into Keppel-KBS US REIT by KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT,Inc (“KBS SOR”), which is a fund managed by KBS Capital Advisors LLC (“KBS”).KCL is pleased to announce that the SGX-ST has today issued its eligibility-to-list letter (“ETLLetter”) for the proposed IPO and listing of Keppel-KBS US REIT (the “Proposed Listing”). KCLwishes to reiterate that no decision has been made as to whether the Proposed Listing will takeplace and there is currently no certainty that KCL will proceed with the Proposed Listing. The receiptof the ETL Letter is only one of the requirements which have been met to enable KCL to proceedwith the Proposed Listing when it considers it appropriate to do so. The Proposed Listing will be 1 Please note that the application for the authorisation of Keppel-KBS US REIT has been submitted to, and is currently underreview by, the Monetary Authority of Singapore.2subject to, among other things, market conditions, the relevant regulatory and other approvalsbeing obtained and the execution of definitive agreements by the relevant parties.Further details of the Proposed Listing will be announced at the appropriate time.3. KBSThe partners of KBS Pacific Advisors are: (i) Peter McMillan III, (ii) Keith D. Hall, (iii) Rahul Rana,and (iv) Richard Bren. Peter McMillan III and Keith D. Hall are two of the founding partners of KBS,and together they indirectly hold a 1/3 stake of KBS. KBS performs the role of manager of KBSSOR, which is in turn the vendor of the properties forming the initial public offering portfolio ofKeppel-KBS US REIT.4. RationaleThis Acquisition is part of Keppel Group’s strategy to expand its asset management business intonew geographies and asset classes. Keppel Capital is pursuing both organic and inorganic growthopportunities to increase the contribution of recurring asset management profits for Keppel Group.With growing demand by global investors for US real estate investments in view of the continuedstable and sustainable growth of the US economy, this joint venture will provide Keppelwith a strategic platform to expand its geographic footprint in the US market.This joint venture is intended to combine Keppel Capital's expertise in investor management,capital markets, and REIT treasury and financial management together with KBS’ investment andasset management expertise of over 25 years in US commercial real estate.5. Acquisition Structure and Purchase ConsiderationThe Acquisition will be effected through the issue of 50% interest in the capital of Keppel-KBS USREIT Manager, which is subject to and effective on the listing and admission to trading of the unitsof Keppel-KBS US REIT on the SGX-ST.The Purchase Consideration was arrived at on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis, taking intoaccount the projected net income before tax of the Keppel-KBS US REIT Manager, assetmanagement services to be provided by the US asset manager, and future acquisition sourcingand support by KBS.6. Financial EffectsThe Acquisition is not expected to have any material impact on the earnings per share or nettangible assets per share of KCL for the current financial year.

Why the TPG Telecom Ltd share price has plunged lower today ~ 20 Sep 2017https://www.fool.com.au/2017/09/20/why-the-tpg-telecom-ltd-share-price-has-plunged-lower-today/At the time of writing the telco company’s shares are down over 6% to $5.14.

If SingTel's support @ S$3.65 breaks down and hit critical support @ S$3.52 with high volume, it's a confirmation of a Bearish Bollinger Bands Breakout.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

Bollinger Bands Breakouthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHOA-Dzv37U

The significant difference between price crashing down on low volume and price crashing down on high volumeSometimes, certain signals could only be visible on the chart when the share price starts its unusual / volatile movement (up or down all in a row, with or without volume). Bollinger bands are very powerful technical indicator. When using it as a key indicator, volume is not necessarily required, instead, the breakout (upside or downside) at the upper or lower Bollinger band is more important. Likewise, in a downtrend, volume is not required for a downside breakout at support level. However, in an uptrend, volume is necessary for an upside breakout at resistance level. A price drop (or rise) on high volume all in a row is a stronger signal indicating that something in the stock has fundamentally changed.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

SENDAI (5205) ~ Bollinger Bands Breakout

SENDAI closed with a spinning top @ RM0.935 (+0.045, +5.1%) with high volume done at 12.4m shares on 6 Oct 2017.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

Warren Buffett: "The single most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power. If you’ve got the power to raise prices without losing business to a competitor, you’ve got a very good business. And if you have to have a prayer session before raising the price by 10%, then you’ve got a terrible business."

As competition heats up, Singtel brings out unlimited mobile plans ~ 15 Sep 2017https://www.techgoondu.com/2017/09/15/competition-heats-singtel-brings-unlimited-mobile-plans/Singtel is offering a unlimited mobile plan that lets users call, surf and text as much as they want, just a fortnight after rivals M1 and StarHub rolled out similar offerings in an increasingly competitive market.

The problem facing stocks in the sector now is a lack of pricing power leading to margin pressures both in fixed line and mobile. Ultimately the only conclusion is that the companies are selling a commodity (data) and the price of that commodity will continue to fall.

When you compare the business model of a telco to that of a mining company there are actually quite a few similarities: both have high capital expenditure requirements, whether building mines or building networks, and both have limited control over the commodity they sell.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

In technical analysis, the most visible signal or the key indicator on the chart is to track the primary trend.

How to identify a strong uptrend on a chart?

Price is moving up at a 45° angle from the lower left to the upper right side of the chart.

Price is trading above the 200 SMA, price action has been making higher highs and higher lows.

Bitcoin prices shoot through $5000 ~ 12 Oct 2017http://www.nasdaq.com/article/market-snapshot-8211-bitcoin-prices-shoot-through-5000-cm859115The next target is likely to be $5500 and that is likely to witness some greater selling than the $5200 region.

Dow Theory: The Three-Trend Markethttp://www.investopedia.com/university/dowtheory/dowtheory2.aspIn Dow theory, the primary trend is the major trend of the market, which makes it the most important one to determine. This is because the overriding trend is the one that affects the movements in stock prices. The primary trend will also impact the secondary and minor trends within the market.

Trading with primary and secondary trendshttps://www.binaryoptions.net/trading-with-primary-and-secondary-trends/

What global finance chiefs are saying about the economy ~ 16 Oct 2017https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-15/what-global-finance-chiefs-are-saying-about-the-global-economy

Why the global asset bubble is not yet ready to burst

By Peter StephensOctober 15, 2017

Since the end of the global financial crisis, asset prices have delivered significant growth. For example, in the last eight years the S&P 500 has risen by 140%. Similarly, property prices across the world have generally risen.

The catalyst for asset price growth has been an ultra-loose monetary policy environment. Interest rates in the developed world have fallen to historic lows, while quantitative easing programmes have improved economic performance and caused sentiment among businesses, consumers and investors to improve.

Favourable conditions

The favourable monetary policy conditions of recent years are showing little sign of coming to a close. In the US, for example, interest rates have risen a couple of times following the end of the monthly asset repurchase programme implemented by the Federal Reserve. However, with inflation remaining stubbornly low, continued interest rate rises seem unlikely, and this could create yet more asset price growth in the US and global economies.

Similarly, in the UK and Eurozone, low interest rates could be set to stay over the medium term. Concerns surrounding Brexit remain high, with negotiations between the UK and EU moving along at a relatively slow speed and there being significant uncertainty as to what will happen from an economic perspective when Brexit takes place. Therefore, policymakers seem unlikely to risk stifling the economic performance of the region and may elect to maintain an accommodative monetary policy in the next few years.

It’s a similar situation in China, where government stimulus has helped its economy to become one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world. With the country transitioning towards a more consumer-focused economy which relies less on infrastructure spending, it seems likely that policymakers will seek to make the move as frictionless as possible.

Benefitting from asset price growth

With the outlook for asset prices being relatively strong, it may be prudent for Foolish investors to seek out high-quality companies trading at fair prices. Certainly, stock markets across the globe are trading close to all-time highs, but there are still likely to be a number of stocks which could offer high growth at a reasonable price.

Certainly, a higher inflation rate looks set to become a reality in future years. Spending levels in the US could increase if Trump’s tax and spending plans come to fruition. This could cause the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, and this could slow down the rate of asset price growth and dampen economic activity. Similarly, quantitative easing in the Eurozone may come to an end, while in the UK the current high level of inflation may prompt an interest rate rise.

However, these events may be some distance away. In the meantime, investor sentiment remains buoyant and it would not be a major surprise for the S&P 500 and other indices to post new record highs over the medium term.

City Development and JV partner acquire Amber Park record smashing $906.7million ~ 4 Oct 2017https://www.theedgesingapore.com/city-developments-and-jv-partner-acquire-amber-park-record-smashing-9067-millionThis is Singapore’s largest freehold collective sale by dollar value, and the sale price works out to about $1,515 psf per plot ratio based on the allowable gross plot ratio of 2.8. No development charges are payable for the site.

Lian Beng has a bullish 'bird-shaped' breakout; the upper bollinger band @ resistance level S$0.625 forms the rounded top of the bird's head and the lower bollinger band @ support level S$0.57 forms the bird's mouth. The consolidation between S$0.57 and S$0.625 suggests a break below S$0.57 is bearish, while a break above S$0.625 is bullish.

"Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend and step off before it is discredited." - George Soros

A simple way to beat the market, year after year

By Brett Eversole 2 Sep 2014

There's nothing better than a simple, stupid investment idea.

Most folks think you have to reinvent the wheel to beat the market. They think the only way to produce outsized returns is with complex strategies. The kind the average person can't follow.

They're wrong.

Today, I'll show a simple way to beat the stock market. Importantly, this idea makes intuitive sense. And there's an easy way to make the trade today.

This simple idea beats the market by 1.8% a year. That might not sound like much, but over time, it leads to hundreds of percent in excess returns.

Let me explain...

Today's simple market-beating strategy requires us to rethink what "the market" actually is.

In the U.S., our benchmark for stocks is the S&P 500. This index holds the largest 500 companies that trade in the U.S.

That makes sense. If you want to own the U.S., own the biggest and the best. But there's a problem with this approach. As my colleague Porter Stansberry points out...

"S&P organizes its index by giving the biggest, most expensive stocks more "weight" in the index. Thus, the companies least likely to perform well for investors end up collecting the largest amount of investment capital from index funds.

That index isn't designed to help investors. It's designed to help sell S&P's bond ratings to issuers – i.e. large public companies."

Porter's describing "market cap weighting." It puts more of the index value into the largest companies, and less into the smaller companies.

In the case of the S&P 500, the top 50 companies make up nearly half of the index. That's a problem... as the largest companies tend to be the most mature, and tend to provide lower returns over the long term.

But history shows there's an easy way to beat this formula.

The simple change is moving from market cap weighting to equal weighting. In the equal weight S&P 500, each stock is 0.2% (one 500th) of the index, regardless of size.

That might seem like a minor change. But the increase to returns is enormous.

Since its inception in 1989, the equal-weight S&P 500 is up 1,297% (including dividends). The normal S&P returned just 823% over the same period (also including dividends).

Over that 25-year period, the equal weight S&P 500 returned 11.3% a year versus 9.5% in the market cap-weighted S&P 500... a 1.8% annual outperformance.

Again, an extra 1.8% a year might not sound like much. But it adds up. And during the "lost decade" of the 2000s, the equal weight S&P 500 doubled while the normal index went nowhere.

The great news for investors is that there's an easy way to make this trade today. It's called the Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight Fund (NYSE: RSP, Stock Forum).

While you've likely never heard of RSP, it's a seasoned fund that has been available for over a decade. It does a fantastic job tracking the equal weight S&P 500. And it makes following this idea easy.

Like I said, this is a simple idea. But that's a good thing. We don't need to reinvent the wheel to beat the market.

It takes an index everyone knows about, makes a small change, and increases long-term returns. Perfect.

If you're a long-term investor looking to maximize gains, forget about the S&P 500. Put money to work the smart way. Shares of RSP are the easy way to do it.

"Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend and step off before it is discredited." - George Soros

Dow ends at 23,000 for the first time, as all stock benchmarks log fresh records ~ 18 Oct 2017http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-industrials-on-track-to-stay-around-23000-milestone-2017-10-18

Dow jumps in early trading as IBM soars 8% ~ 18 Oct 2017https://seekingalpha.com/news/3301818-dow-jumps-early-trading-ibm-soars-8-percentRoughly 50 points of the Dow's initial advance comes from IBM's strong start, and the stock's trading volume in the first few minutes already exceeded its full-day average.

UBS Tells Wealthy Clients to `Take Some Profit' on Global StocksBy Patrick Winters22 September 2017, 17:19 GMT+8UBS Group AG, the world’s largest wealth manager, told clients worldwide to take some profit on their stocks as rising values make it more difficult to generate “significant” further gains.

“Although we continue to believe that global stocks can grind higher, underpinned by robust economic growth and increasing earnings, rising valuations are reducing the possibility of significant further upside,” Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management, said in a note to clients. Stocks this year have climbed 15 percent globally, about twice UBS’s expected long-term return, he said.

Play VideoUBS' Haefele Says Stay Overweight Global Equities"We have just taken down slightly our global equity overweight," UBS CIO Mark Haefele says.Source: BloombergWhile some investors are concerned that global economy must be headed for a downturn, UBS sees little recession risk currently. The comments come as markets focus on monetary-policy decisions that could affect stock prices, as well as speeches by Federal Reserve officials that may offer further clues about U.S. interest rate policy.

Credit Suisse Group AG, the world’s sixth-largest wealth manager, advised clients in August to take a pause from investing in stocks, adding that “valuations seem full."

Though prices will continue to rise, it will be at a slower rate, Haefele said. Traditional catalysts for a recession such as government austerity, sharply higher rates, oil price spikes or another credit crunch look unlikely to emerge over the next six months.

"In a low-interest-rate world, the valuations are not so excessive, leverage is not so high that we see an unsustainable situation at the moment," Haefele said in an interview on Bloomberg TV on Friday.

What Analysts Are Saying About the Plunge in Hong Kong StocksBloomberg News19 October 2017, 17:09 GMT+8Callable bull contracts fingered by Sun Hung Kai FinancialPBOC chief fueling concern abbout deleveraging also blamedAfter a subdued week, stocks in Hong Kong suddenly plunged on Thursday afternoon, sending the benchmark Hang Seng Index tumbling by as much as 2.2 percent, the most in 11 months. The gauge eventually ended the session down 1.9 percent to 28,159.09.

Here’s what some analysts had to say about the abrupt selloff:

Kenny Wen, strategist at Sun Hung Kai Financial Ltd.

A lot of callable bull contracts are tied to levels between 28,150 and 28,199 points on the index, and they’ll be terminated if it falls below that level in intraday trading (the Hang Seng fell to as low as 28.095 Thursday)Some bearish investors were looking for an excuse to “kill the bulls”The spike in Hong Kong’s Hibor rate or jitters about Spain may have prompted some investors to sell, then the termination of callable contracts exacerbated the declines.Andrew Clarke, director of trading at Mirabaud (Asia) Ltd.

Investors are getting worried about Zhou’s comments on the continuation of the deleveraging campaign and tighter financial regulation“The details slowly emerged during the day”Analysts downgrading ZTE Corp. after its preliminary nine-month results pointed to a weak third quarter also hit sentiment, so the “poster children of the stock rally, including Geely, began to fall, taking the market down with them,” he said, referring to Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd., which slid as much as 10 percent, the most in seven months.Ronald Wan, chief executive at Partners Capital International Ltd.

Hong Kong stocks had been rising because the market was expecting a message from China’s 19th Party Congress to support the market, he said. To some extent, people think there haven’t been any breakthroughs from the meeting -- which President Xi Jinping opened on Wednesday with a marathon speech -- so the market is pulling backBlue-chip stocks and property developers are facing larger selling pressure because there’s concern hawks at the Federal Reserve are gaining an edge“If the U.S. hikes rates more quickly, blue chips will fall as Hibor rises,” he said.Ken Chen, Shanghai-based analyst with KGI Securities Co.

The city’s stocks are already at relatively high levels so any bad news can trigger sellingThe U.S. dollar has stabilized a bit recently, while China’s economy is showing signs of moderation, putting pressure on the marketSome big funds may have waited for others to lower their guard in the afternoon to sell on the economic concernThe sudden drop in mainland China-listed shares in late afternoon trading also added to investor concerns as the market would’ve closed much lower if it weren’t for suspected intervention by state-backed funds known as the national team, he said. The Shanghai Composite Index closed down 0.3 percent.Steven Leung, executive director at Uob Kay Hian (Hong Kong) Ltd.

The market got a bit panicked on concerns around Spanish politics, and investors are selling stocks with big exposure to the European Union, like HSBC, as well as shares that had rallied a lot this year, due to geopolitical concernsIt’s unsurprising that Hong Kong fell so much as it’s the first market Western investors would choose to cash out from, since it’s the most liquid in Asia and the best performer, he said.The Hang Seng has risen 28% this year, even after Thursday’s selloff.

How the elite dominate the world – Part 3: 90% of what you watch on TV is controlled by just 6 giant Corp ~ 17 Oct 2017http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/how-the-elite-dominate-the-world-part-3-90-of-what-you-watch-on-television-is-controlled-by-just-6-giant-corporations

How the elite dominate the world – Part 2: 99.9% of the global population lives in a country with a central bank ~ 16 Oct 2017http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/how-the-elite-dominate-the-world-part-2-99-9-of-the-global-population-lives-in-a-country-with-a-central-bank

How the elite dominate the world – Part 1: Debt as a tool of enslavement ~ 15 Oct 2017http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/how-the-elite-dominate-the-world-part-1-debt-as-a-tool-of-enslavement

Venezuela: The country literally running out of cash ~ 6 Oct 2017http://www.news.com.au/travel/world-travel/south-america/venezuela-the-country-literally-running-out-of-cash/news-story/01f465fd917563444d56389bd4a14c50The bolivar’s value has crashed 75% between January and August, and banks were limiting the amount of cash they let customers withdraw because the Central Bank was not providing enough bills.

Here’s why one chart watcher says the stock market is finally ready for a pullback ~ 23 Oct 2017http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-why-one-chart-watchers-says-the-stock-market-is-finally-ready-for-a-pullback-2017-10-23“The long-term positive momentum is there and not only in U.S. stocks, but in Japanese and emerging-market stocks. Which is why we think any pullback is an opportunity to add exposure to U.S. stocks.”

Jesse Livermore Advice – How To Trade In A Bull Markethttp://www.tischendorf.com/2009/07/02/jesse-livermore-advice-how-to-trade-in-a-bull-market/“I think it was a long step forward in my trading education when I realized at last that when old Mr. Partridge kept on telling other customers, “Well, you know this is a bull market!” he really meant to tell them that the big money was not in the individual fluctuations but in the main movements that is, not in reading the tape but in sizing up the entire market and its trend.” ~ Jesse Livermore

One of the Elliott Wave rules stated that Wave-3 cannot be the shortest wave. Usually for commodities, Wave-5 will be the longest wave; while for stocks, Wave-3 will be the longest wave and a minimum target for Wave-5 is 100% of Wave-1. The best thing about Elliott wave patterns? Easy: They repeat. They repeat on all timeframes, across dozens of markets, all over the world. Once you know what to look for, you see the familiar 5s and 3s repeat in every chart.

Playing a blue sky breakouthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPN6L7gv7s0

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

Bollinger Bands Breakouthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHOA-Dzv37U

The significant difference between price crashing down on low volume and price crashing down on high volumeSometimes, certain signals could only be visible on the chart when the share price starts its unusual / volatile movement (up or down all in a row, with or without volume). Bollinger bands are very powerful technical indicator. When using it as a key indicator, volume is not necessarily required, instead, the breakout (upside or downside) at the upper or lower Bollinger band is more important. Likewise, in a downtrend, volume is not required for a downside breakout at support level. However, in an uptrend, volume is necessary for an upside breakout at resistance level. A price drop (or rise) on high volume all in a row is a stronger signal indicating that something in the stock has fundamentally changed.

Using the price and the volume as a trend indicator:1. High volume is bearish when the stock is in distributing mode.2. High volume is bullish when the stock is in accumulating mode.3. Do not catch a stock falling on high volume or one that is rising on thin volume.

Lian Beng has a bullish 'bird-shaped' breakout; the upper bollinger band @ resistance level S$0.625 forms the rounded top of the bird's head and the lower bollinger band @ support level S$0.57 forms the bird's mouth. The consolidation between S$0.57 and S$0.625 suggests a break below S$0.57 is bearish, while a break above S$0.625 is bullish.

This family sold everything to make a big bet on Bitcoin ~ 19 Oct 2017https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlHFzczbtis

Bitcoin prices shoot through $5000 ~ 12 Oct 2017http://www.nasdaq.com/article/market-snapshot-8211-bitcoin-prices-shoot-through-5000-cm859115The next target is likely to be $5500 and that is likely to witness some greater selling than the $5200 region.

Singapore's Sea falls below IPO price in rocky public debutPublished 10:49 AM, OCTOBER 26, 2017 Updated 10:40 PM, October 26, 2017 SINGAPORE — Sea Ltd shares fell for the third day in a row and dropped below their initial public offering price, a rocky start as a public company for the Singapore games startup.

Sea's stock slipped 9.9 per cent in New York trading Wednesday (Oct 25) to close at US$13.73. The company sold shares to investors at US$15 and they rose 8.4 per cent in its first day of trading last week.

Investors may be skittish about Sea's outlook given heavy losses as Chief Executive Officer Forrest Li expands beyond games into e-commerce and payments. The company's underwriters also pushed hard to raise US$884 million, increasing the number of shares sold and lifting the price from an initial range of US$12 to US$14.

"By pricing above the range and upsizing the offer, they soaked up a lot of demand at the IPO," said Matthew Kanterman, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. "At this valuation, there's high expectations for Sea to show the street it can grow into its valuation and drive profitability on top of its past investments."

The company rose to a market capitalisation of US$5.2 billion last week, before dropping to US$4.5 billion. That still means gains for early backers such as Tencent Holdings Ltd., the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund and several Asian billionaires.

Sea was founded by Mr Li as an online gaming company in 2009 and originally named Garena. He rebranded the company to reflect its regional ambition and diversification. Sea branched out with a digital payments service called AirPay in 2014 and the mobile shopping business Shopee in 2015.

Sea's games business, which retained the Garena name, still accounts for more than 90 per cent of total revenue. Like Tencent, the company offers games for free, then collects money when players buy virtual items like armour, weapons or special skills. It makes money in e-commerce from commissions and advertising, while collecting fees from payments.

Sea has been viewed as something of a test case for startups from Southeast Asia, including ride-hailing provider Grab, e-commerce site Tokopedia and travel provider Traveloka. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group AG led the public offering. BLOOMBERG

Imagine a superb poker player who asks you for a loan to finance his nightly poker playing. For every $100 he gambles, he’s willing to put up $3 of his own money. He wants you to lend him the rest. You will not get a stake in his winning. Instead, he’ll give you a fixed rate of interest on your $97 loan.

The poker player likes this situation for two reasons. First, it minimizes his downside risk. He can only lose $3. Second, borrowing has a great effect on his investment — it gets leveraged. If his $100 bet ends up yielding $103, he has made a lot more than 3 percent — in fact, he has doubled his money. His $3 investment is now worth $6.

But why would you, the lender, play this game? It’s a pretty risky game for you. Suppose your friend starts out with a stake of $10,000 for the night, putting up $300 himself and borrowing $9,700 from you. If he loses anything more than 3 percent on the night, he can’t make good on your loan.

Not to worry — your friend is an extremely skilled and prudent poker player who knows when to hold ,em and when to fold ,em. He may lose a hand or two because poker is a game of chance, but by the end of the night, he’s always ahead. He always makes good on his debts to you. He has never had a losing evening. As a creditor of the poker player, this is all you care about. As long as he can make good on his debt, you’re fine. You care only about one thing — that he stays solvent so that he can repay his loan and you get your money back.

But the gambler cares about two things. Sure, he too wants to stay solvent. Insolvency wipes out his investment, which is always unpleasant — it’s bad for his reputation and hurts his chances of being able to use leverage in the future. But the gambler doesn’t just care about avoiding the downside. He also cares about the upside. As the lender, you don’t share in the upside; no matter how much money the gambler makes on his bets, you just get your promised amount of interest.

If there is a chance to win a lot of money, the gambler is willing to take a big risk. After all, his downside is small. He only has $3 at stake. To gain a really large pot of money, the gambler will take a chance on an inside straight.

As the lender of the bulk of his funds, you wouldn't want the gambler to take that chance. You know that when the leverage ratio — the ratio of borrowed funds to personal assets — is 32–1 ($9700 divided by $300), the gambler will take a lot more risk than you’d like. So you keep an eye on the gambler to make sure that he continues to be successful in his play.

But suppose the gambler becomes increasingly reckless. He begins to draw to an inside straight from time to time and pursue other high-risk strategies that require making very large bets that threaten his ability to make good on his promises to you. After all, it’s worth it to him. He’s not playing with very much of his own money. He is playing mostly with your money. How will you respond?

You might stop lending altogether, concerned that you will lose both your interest and your principal. Or you might look for ways to protect yourself. You might demand a higher rate of interest. You might ask the player to put up his own assets as collateral in case he is wiped out. You might impose a covenant that legally restricts the gambler’s behavior, barring him from drawing to an inside straight, for example.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

The 74,791,734 outstanding company warrants with an exercise price of S$0.50 per share issued on 27 Oct 2013 had already expired on 27 Oct 2017, i.e. the closing high of S$0.565 with high volume done at 5.85m shares on 26 Oct 2017 was an arbitrage for existing shareholders to make an instant profit of >10% on the open market.

The 74,791,734 outstanding company warrants with an exercise price of S$0.50 per share issued on 27 Oct 2013 had already expired on 27 Oct 2017, i.e. the closing high of S$0.565 with high volume done at 5.85m shares on 26 Oct 2017 was an arbitrage for existing shareholders to make an instant profit of >10% on the open market.

Arbitragehttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/arbitrage.asp

zuolun bro,

fail to buy any centurioni queue at 56 and then move up to 56.5it closed at 57but if buy at 57, no more meat cos resistance is at 58

One of the Elliott Wave rules stated that Wave-3 cannot be the shortest wave. Usually for commodities, Wave-5 will be the longest wave; while for stocks, Wave-3 will be the longest wave and a minimum target for Wave-5 is 100% of Wave-1. The best thing about Elliott wave patterns? Easy: They repeat. They repeat on all timeframes, across dozens of markets, all over the world. Once you know what to look for, you see the familiar 5s and 3s repeat in every chart.

One of the Elliott Wave rules stated that Wave-3 cannot be the shortest wave. Usually for commodities, Wave-5 will be the longest wave; while for stocks, Wave-3 will be the longest wave and a minimum target for Wave-5 is 100% of Wave-1. The best thing about Elliott wave patterns? Easy: They repeat. They repeat on all timeframes, across dozens of markets, all over the world. Once you know what to look for, you see the familiar 5s and 3s repeat in every chart.

RH Petrogas Ltd was listed on the SGX-Mainboard, it hit high of S$0.945 on 3 Oct 2013 and low of S$0.05 on 18 Sep 2017.

(http://i.imgur.com/0ZZQNfe.png)

Rubbish stocks : Learn this to avoid all the crap!

By MrWealthy4321 9 Mar 2015

Rubbish stocks are low quality stocks in the stock market. They are also called crappy stocks, inferior stocks and lousy stocks. Many people would think that people who invest in the stock market would stay as far away as possible from rubbish stocks but information from brokers show the opposite to be true – that many stock investors actually own a lot of rubbish stocks.

I am sure you are wondering why on earth do people want to own rubbish socks? Don’t they know these rubbish stocks are high risk investments? Some really don’t but the majority of investors do know these stocks are high risk investments. Yet they will buy them because they are cheap and have the potential for extraordinary returns (if) they go up!

15 Characteristics of Rubbish Stocks

1. Rubbish stocks are loss-making companies and mostly companies in a bad shape.

2. They are usually cheap penny stocks; stocks that trade below RM1.00 in the stock market. Initially, they could be trading higher than RM1.00, but because of the high losses they incurred in the business, many investors sold and the stock price dropped below RM1.00.

3. These stocks are companies having low NTA (Net Tangible Assets) per share. And the remaining assets they still own are usually poor quality assets that have little value and do not generate much income.

4. These stocks usually have high gearing and high debts. They are at high risk to close shop because of the high chance they could not service the mountain of debts they have piled up with the banks.

6. The management team of these stocks get rewarded with generous director fees, allowances and bonuses irrespective of the mounting losses of the company.

7. These stocks does not pay any dividends irrespective of profit/(loss) of the company.

8. Rubbish stocks are usually the target of stock market syndicates who love holding and playing these type of stocks.

9. Rubbish stocks are stocks with juicy stories and the focus of incredible stock market rumours. They are usually created by the stock syndicates to entice retail investors to purchase the stocks from them at a higher price later.

10. They are usually speculative stocks; they can go very high up within a short time frame. It is this factor which makes these stocks the darlings of retail investors wanting to get rich quick. Unfortunately, more people become poorer after dabbling in such stocks.

11. Rubbish stocks are usually the last stocks to move in a stock market rally. After the good stocks have moved and become expensive, stock operators will start moving their cash into these stocks for quick capital gains.

12. Rubbish stocks are stocks that are always asking investors for money. Every few years there is a rights issue or placing out shares (private placements) to new investors with no corresponding increasing in earnings.

13. Rubbish stocks are run by rubbish management. They prefer playing their company stocks for profit rather than running the company for a profit. They also engage in questionable tactics like selling their assets to the company at high valuations and approving stock options to themselves.

14. Rubbish stocks are stocks heavily promoted in stock market forums, stock market magazines, newspapers and even Facebook stock groups. Usually a sexy angle or a good story is attached to the stock to make it enticing enough to buy.

15. Rubbish stocks are stocks with poor earnings but trading at high valuations. A measure to gauge the stock price is to look at the PE (Price to Earnings) Ratio of the stock. Usually these stocks have high PE Ratio in excess of 50 or more.

Conclusion

So now you know rubbish stocks. I could go on ...but just knowing these 15 characteristics of rubbish stocks should be enough for someone to avoid them. They are guaranteed to make you poorer in the long-term. Invest in fundamentally good stocks that can still be found in abundance in the stock market.

Understand or not makes no difference ~ Stocks with good FA and TA you tend to quickly sell them away to make alittle bit of kopi money but for lousy stocks, you buy on impulse and hold onto them tightly, year after year. Sometimes you even add more when the share price keeps sliding down. It's human nature to sell the winners and keep the losers. However, Jesse Livermore did the reverse, i.e. sell the losers and keep the winners.

1. "Rubbish stocks are loss-making companies and mostly companies in a bad shape."

12. "Rubbish stocks are stocks that are always asking investors for money. Every few years there is a rights issue or placing out shares (private placements) to new investors with no corresponding increasing in earnings."

When loan-sharks lend people money, they charge them 20% interest but when you lend your hard-earned money to a loss-making listed company FJ Benjamin, you get IOU papers without interest and sit tight hoping that the management would do the right thing.

STRUGGLING retailer FJ Benjamin's net loss for the fiscal year ended June 30 narrowed to S$17.42 million from S$22.96 million amid a drop in revenue.

The group turnover slipped 18 per cent to S$207.49 million mainly due to the discontinuation of businesses and a decrease in sales to an Indonesian associate.

But gross profit margin improved to 42 per cent from 39 per cent a year ago due to tighter inventory management and improved sell-throughs.

"The management expects the operating environment to remain challenging in Singapore as economic growth stays sluggish and the Singapore dollar continues to strengthen relative to regional currencies," the group said.

"While management is conscious of the challenges and will remain vigilant on costs, we will continue to identify new business opportunities that will enhance the group's portfolio and assist its return to profitability."

Imagine a superb poker player who asks you for a loan to finance his nightly poker playing. For every $100 he gambles, he’s willing to put up $3 of his own money. He wants you to lend him the rest. You will not get a stake in his winning. Instead, he’ll give you a fixed rate of interest on your $97 loan.

The poker player likes this situation for two reasons. First, it minimizes his downside risk. He can only lose $3. Second, borrowing has a great effect on his investment — it gets leveraged. If his $100 bet ends up yielding $103, he has made a lot more than 3 percent — in fact, he has doubled his money. His $3 investment is now worth $6.

But why would you, the lender, play this game? It’s a pretty risky game for you. Suppose your friend starts out with a stake of $10,000 for the night, putting up $300 himself and borrowing $9,700 from you. If he loses anything more than 3 percent on the night, he can’t make good on your loan.

Not to worry — your friend is an extremely skilled and prudent poker player who knows when to hold ,em and when to fold ,em. He may lose a hand or two because poker is a game of chance, but by the end of the night, he’s always ahead. He always makes good on his debts to you. He has never had a losing evening. As a creditor of the poker player, this is all you care about. As long as he can make good on his debt, you’re fine. You care only about one thing — that he stays solvent so that he can repay his loan and you get your money back.

But the gambler cares about two things. Sure, he too wants to stay solvent. Insolvency wipes out his investment, which is always unpleasant — it’s bad for his reputation and hurts his chances of being able to use leverage in the future. But the gambler doesn’t just care about avoiding the downside. He also cares about the upside. As the lender, you don’t share in the upside; no matter how much money the gambler makes on his bets, you just get your promised amount of interest.

If there is a chance to win a lot of money, the gambler is willing to take a big risk. After all, his downside is small. He only has $3 at stake. To gain a really large pot of money, the gambler will take a chance on an inside straight.

As the lender of the bulk of his funds, you wouldn't want the gambler to take that chance. You know that when the leverage ratio — the ratio of borrowed funds to personal assets — is 32–1 ($9700 divided by $300), the gambler will take a lot more risk than you’d like. So you keep an eye on the gambler to make sure that he continues to be successful in his play.

But suppose the gambler becomes increasingly reckless. He begins to draw to an inside straight from time to time and pursue other high-risk strategies that require making very large bets that threaten his ability to make good on his promises to you. After all, it’s worth it to him. He’s not playing with very much of his own money. He is playing mostly with your money. How will you respond?

You might stop lending altogether, concerned that you will lose both your interest and your principal. Or you might look for ways to protect yourself. You might demand a higher rate of interest. You might ask the player to put up his own assets as collateral in case he is wiped out. You might impose a covenant that legally restricts the gambler’s behavior, barring him from drawing to an inside straight, for example.

Greater fool theory: The bitcoin bubble ~ 2 Nov 2017https://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2017/11/greater-fool-theory-0The latest spike was driven by the news that the CME will trade futures in Bitcoin; a derivatives contract based on a notional currency.

CME Group's Duffy on bitcoin futures launch: People are looking for more efficient ways to do commerce ~ 31 Oct 2017https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/10/31/cme-groups-duffy-on-bitcoin-futures-launch-people-are-look-for-more-efficient-ways-to-do-commerce.htmlTerry Duffy, CME Group chairman and CEO, discusses the pending launch of bitcoin futures following regulator approval.

Sep 26, 2017 | Jamie Redman | 9074 | 17Singapore-Based Bitcoin Startups Deal With Bank Account ClosuresBitcoin.com GamesAccording to reports, a few banks in Singapore have ceased doing business with several startups that operate with cryptocurrencies. Singapore’s Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Industry Association claims that over ten companies have had issues with Singapore banks and that the corresponding financial institutions have provided no reasons for the account closures.

Singapore-Based Bitcoin Startups Deal With Bank Account ClosuresJust recently the Singapore-based startup, Coinhako, a digital currency exchange and wallet service, told its customers it had to stop processing Singapore dollar trades. According to Coinhako, one of the largest banks in Southeast Asia, DBS Group Holdings, closed the company’s account and did not detail why it was ending the banking relationship.

“The closure of our bank account might be due to matters pertaining to anti-money laundering rules and know-your-customer requirements,” explains Coinhako’s co-founder, Yusho Liu. “That’s why we go the extra mile to meet compliance standards set by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Even though we don’t fit anywhere in the current regulatory framework, Coinhako is fully committed to working towards a common consensus with the banks to allow for a more conducive environment going forward.”

Advocacy groups such as the Singapore Fintech Association, and Singapore’s Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Industry Association (Access), say that many businesses have approached them about banking issues. Access says over ten startups have had problems with Singapore’s financial institutions and the trend is becoming more “common.” Access Chairman Anson Zeall explains, “from our analysis, it appears to be common among leading Fintech hubs.” Even though Singapore’s central bank denies having had any influence over the decisions of these private banks, it did recently clarify the bank’s stance towards initial token offerings (ICO).

MAS is concerned about ICOs, as evidenced by its recent statements towards this new token sale economy. The Singapore bank emphasized that the function of digital tokens has “evolved beyond just being a virtual currency”, and explained that it is committed to maintaining Singapore’s role as a “reputable financial center and fintech hub.” However, that requires “strong controls” so the central bank can curb the risks of money laundering and pyramid schemes. MAS claims it has not participated in the decision-making made by private banks and the “termination of business relationships.”

Coinhako Says ‘We Are Not Alone’

Coinhako says the startup is in the process of creating a relationship with alternative Singapore-based banks and hopes to be back up and running in roughly three weeks. The Singapore bitcoin company says it knows it’s not the only cryptocurrency business model trying to operate within this nascent industry, while also dealing with the traditional banking system.

“Regulations and the exact role of the blockchain in society continues to present as a grey area to everyone,” Coinhako notes in its closure statement. “Coinhako is not alone in the bitcoin community in having to deal with challenges presented by correspondent banks. Various other bitcoin-related companies have faced similar problems in recent days.”

Bitcoin price achieves new all-time high at $7,598; Why is the market so optimistic? ~ 5 Nov 2017https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-price-achieves-new-time-high-7598-market-optimistic/Over the past 2 weeks, Japan and South Korea have seen a massive portion of conventional investors in the traditional financial industry allocate their funds to bitcoin, given the increasing liquidity of bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market in general.

An important fact about the stock market gameplayIn any stock market, it's all about supply and demand. From a chartist's point of view; buy stocks with good momentum and volume, which can reward you a good profit. Do not buy stocks with low or no volume and sit on them, these stocks are dead and dire cheap for a reason. Bottom-fishing is the toughest gameplay in the stock market. Do not buy stocks that even worms also won't grow on them!

2020 Bitcoin price Forecast: Will the limited supply push BTC to $20,000? ~ 4 Sep 2017https://atozforex.com/news/2020-bitcoin-price-forecast-limited-supply/“As a longtime Bitcoin holder, I’m greatly enjoying the recent price action, even though I understand that this bull market will likely be followed by a pretty brutal bear market.“

"Economic history is a never-ending series of episodes based on falsehoods and lies, not truths. It represents the path to big money. The object is to recognize the trend whose premise is false, ride that trend and step off before it is discredited." - George Soros

Jack Ma, founder of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, sees serious change on the horizon. In the next 30 years, artificial intelligence will outpace human knowledge, leading to job loss, the billionaire tells CNBC's David Faber.

"The new wave is coming. Jobs will be taken away," Ma says. "Some people, who catch up [with] the wave, will be rich, will be more successful."

But for those who fall behind, says Ma, the future will be "painful."

At the heart of the fast-approaching technological new age, Ma says, is data. According to his projections for the future job market, skills associated with data and its analysis will become extremely valuable.

"The world is going to be data," Ma says. "I think this is just the beginning of the data period."

Asia’s role in the digital currency revolution ~ 5 Nov 2017http://www.atimes.com/article/asias-role-digital-currency-revolution/China has been especially pivotal in the rise of cryptocurrencies this year, with an estimated 80% of them being mined in the People’s Republic.

China is transforming its economy away from export-led growth towards consumption-led growth. This involves the opening of China’s capital account, including global access to its USD 4.5trn domestic fixed income market. It is, quite simply, the biggest ‘big bang’ in world history. Moreover, the RMB looks set to achieve global reserve currency status in 2016, which means that China’s central government bond market increasingly will be seen as a ‘risk free’ market. China’s bond market will ultimately compete directly with developed market bonds, in our view. The RMB will appreciate strongly when QE becomes inflationary in the current reserve currencies, so investors can look forward to not just high real yields, but also to currency appreciation. Within the China fixed income story, we think the municipal bond market is particularly interesting. Chinese banks sit on some RMB 11trn of loans to local governments that have been issued to finance infrastructure investment. These loans are in the process of being swapped to tradable bonds, which will form the backbone of China’s municipal bond market. So far RMB 2trn has been swapped to 1-year, 3-year, 5-year and 7-year benchmark bonds. This market will become central to monetary policy transmission and will support the expansion of the asset management and mutual fund industry in China. It will also provide an important source of fixed income for China’s savers. At inception, the Chinese municipal bond market in China is likely to be USD 1.7trn, making it the second largest of its kind in the world (after the US) and 30% larger than the entire USD denominated EM corporate debt market. ~ The emerging view August 2015

Understand or not makes no difference ~ Stocks with good FA and TA you tend to quickly sell them away to make alittle bit of kopi money but for lousy stocks, you buy on impulse and hold onto them tightly, year after year. Sometimes you even add more when the share price keeps sliding down. It's human nature to sell the winners and keep the losers. However, Jesse Livermore did the reverse, i.e. sell the losers and keep the winners.

“The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting.” — Charlie Munger有些事不是因为看到了希望才去坚持，而是因为坚持了才能看到希望。

Singapore has big risk appetite in the financial markets before and after the AFC; it is unlikely to ban Bitcoin trading.

The Big Read: As Bitcoin roars on, more jump on the cryptocurrency bandwagon - but what’s the catch? ~ 6 Nov 2017http://www.todayonline.com/business/big-read-bitcoin-roars-more-jump-cryptocurrency-bandwagon-whats-catchSingapore does not plan to regulate cryptocurrencies.

Sep 26, 2017 | Jamie Redman | 9074 | 17Singapore-Based Bitcoin Startups Deal With Bank Account ClosuresBitcoin.com GamesAccording to reports, a few banks in Singapore have ceased doing business with several startups that operate with cryptocurrencies. Singapore’s Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Industry Association claims that over ten companies have had issues with Singapore banks and that the corresponding financial institutions have provided no reasons for the account closures.

Singapore-Based Bitcoin Startups Deal With Bank Account ClosuresJust recently the Singapore-based startup, Coinhako, a digital currency exchange and wallet service, told its customers it had to stop processing Singapore dollar trades. According to Coinhako, one of the largest banks in Southeast Asia, DBS Group Holdings, closed the company’s account and did not detail why it was ending the banking relationship.

“The closure of our bank account might be due to matters pertaining to anti-money laundering rules and know-your-customer requirements,” explains Coinhako’s co-founder, Yusho Liu. “That’s why we go the extra mile to meet compliance standards set by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Even though we don’t fit anywhere in the current regulatory framework, Coinhako is fully committed to working towards a common consensus with the banks to allow for a more conducive environment going forward.”

Advocacy groups such as the Singapore Fintech Association, and Singapore’s Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Industry Association (Access), say that many businesses have approached them about banking issues. Access says over ten startups have had problems with Singapore’s financial institutions and the trend is becoming more “common.” Access Chairman Anson Zeall explains, “from our analysis, it appears to be common among leading Fintech hubs.” Even though Singapore’s central bank denies having had any influence over the decisions of these private banks, it did recently clarify the bank’s stance towards initial token offerings (ICO).

MAS is concerned about ICOs, as evidenced by its recent statements towards this new token sale economy. The Singapore bank emphasized that the function of digital tokens has “evolved beyond just being a virtual currency”, and explained that it is committed to maintaining Singapore’s role as a “reputable financial center and fintech hub.” However, that requires “strong controls” so the central bank can curb the risks of money laundering and pyramid schemes. MAS claims it has not participated in the decision-making made by private banks and the “termination of business relationships.”

Coinhako Says ‘We Are Not Alone’

Coinhako says the startup is in the process of creating a relationship with alternative Singapore-based banks and hopes to be back up and running in roughly three weeks. The Singapore bitcoin company says it knows it’s not the only cryptocurrency business model trying to operate within this nascent industry, while also dealing with the traditional banking system.

“Regulations and the exact role of the blockchain in society continues to present as a grey area to everyone,” Coinhako notes in its closure statement. “Coinhako is not alone in the bitcoin community in having to deal with challenges presented by correspondent banks. Various other bitcoin-related companies have faced similar problems in recent days.”

One of the Elliott Wave rules stated that Wave-3 cannot be the shortest wave. Usually for commodities, Wave-5 will be the longest wave; while for stocks, Wave-3 will be the longest wave and a minimum target for Wave-5 is 100% of Wave-1. The best thing about Elliott wave patterns? Easy: They repeat. They repeat on all timeframes, across dozens of markets, all over the world. Once you know what to look for, you see the familiar 5s and 3s repeat in every chart.

One of the Elliott Wave rules stated that Wave-3 cannot be the shortest wave. Usually for commodities, Wave-5 will be the longest wave; while for stocks, Wave-3 will be the longest wave and a minimum target for Wave-5 is 100% of Wave-1. The best thing about Elliott wave patterns? Easy: They repeat. They repeat on all timeframes, across dozens of markets, all over the world. Once you know what to look for, you see the familiar 5s and 3s repeat in every chart.

This article can help guide you better than TA; it is definitely a good read.

Rubbish stocks : Learn this to avoid all the crap!

By MrWealthy4321 9 Mar 2015

Rubbish stocks are low quality stocks in the stock market. They are also called crappy stocks, inferior stocks and lousy stocks. Many people would think that people who invest in the stock market would stay as far away as possible from rubbish stocks but information from brokers show the opposite to be true – that many stock investors actually own a lot of rubbish stocks.

I am sure you are wondering why on earth do people want to own rubbish socks? Don’t they know these rubbish stocks are high risk investments? Some really don’t but the majority of investors do know these stocks are high risk investments. Yet they will buy them because they are cheap and have the potential for extraordinary returns (if) they go up!

15 Characteristics of Rubbish Stocks

1. Rubbish stocks are loss-making companies and mostly companies in a bad shape.

2. They are usually cheap penny stocks; stocks that trade below RM1.00 in the stock market. Initially, they could be trading higher than RM1.00, but because of the high losses they incurred in the business, many investors sold and the stock price dropped below RM1.00.

3. These stocks are companies having low NTA (Net Tangible Assets) per share. And the remaining assets they still own are usually poor quality assets that have little value and do not generate much income.

4. These stocks usually have high gearing and high debts. They are at high risk to close shop because of the high chance they could not service the mountain of debts they have piled up with the banks.

6. The management team of these stocks get rewarded with generous director fees, allowances and bonuses irrespective of the mounting losses of the company.

7. These stocks does not pay any dividends irrespective of profit/(loss) of the company.

8. Rubbish stocks are usually the target of stock market syndicates who love holding and playing these type of stocks.

9. Rubbish stocks are stocks with juicy stories and the focus of incredible stock market rumours. They are usually created by the stock syndicates to entice retail investors to purchase the stocks from them at a higher price later.

10. They are usually speculative stocks; they can go very high up within a short time frame. It is this factor which makes these stocks the darlings of retail investors wanting to get rich quick. Unfortunately, more people become poorer after dabbling in such stocks.

11. Rubbish stocks are usually the last stocks to move in a stock market rally. After the good stocks have moved and become expensive, stock operators will start moving their cash into these stocks for quick capital gains.

12. Rubbish stocks are stocks that are always asking investors for money. Every few years there is a rights issue or placing out shares (private placements) to new investors with no corresponding increasing in earnings.

13. Rubbish stocks are run by rubbish management. They prefer playing their company stocks for profit rather than running the company for a profit. They also engage in questionable tactics like selling their assets to the company at high valuations and approving stock options to themselves.

14. Rubbish stocks are stocks heavily promoted in stock market forums, stock market magazines, newspapers and even Facebook stock groups. Usually a sexy angle or a good story is attached to the stock to make it enticing enough to buy.

15. Rubbish stocks are stocks with poor earnings but trading at high valuations. A measure to gauge the stock price is to look at the PE (Price to Earnings) Ratio of the stock. Usually these stocks have high PE Ratio in excess of 50 or more.

Conclusion

So now you know rubbish stocks. I could go on ...but just knowing these 15 characteristics of rubbish stocks should be enough for someone to avoid them. They are guaranteed to make you poorer in the long-term. Invest in fundamentally good stocks that can still be found in abundance in the stock market.

Money Flow Index (MFI) 资金流量指标http://stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:technical_indicators:money_flow_index_mfiThe MFI is a momentum indicator that measures the flow of money into and out of a security over a specified period of time. It is related to the RSI but incorporates volume, whereas the RSI only considers price. The MFI is calculated by accumulating positive and negative Money Flow values, then creating a Money Ratio. The Money Ratio is then normalized into the MFI oscillator form.

Understand or not makes no difference ~ Stocks with good FA and TA you tend to quickly sell them away to make alittle bit of kopi money but for lousy stocks, you buy on impulse and hold onto them tightly, year after year. Sometimes you even add more when the share price keeps sliding down. It's human nature to sell the winners and keep the losers. However, Jesse Livermore did the reverse, i.e. sell the losers and keep the winners.

Imagine a superb poker player who asks you for a loan to finance his nightly poker playing. For every $100 he gambles, he’s willing to put up $3 of his own money. He wants you to lend him the rest. You will not get a stake in his winning. Instead, he’ll give you a fixed rate of interest on your $97 loan.

The poker player likes this situation for two reasons. First, it minimizes his downside risk. He can only lose $3. Second, borrowing has a great effect on his investment — it gets leveraged. If his $100 bet ends up yielding $103, he has made a lot more than 3 percent — in fact, he has doubled his money. His $3 investment is now worth $6.

But why would you, the lender, play this game? It’s a pretty risky game for you. Suppose your friend starts out with a stake of $10,000 for the night, putting up $300 himself and borrowing $9,700 from you. If he loses anything more than 3 percent on the night, he can’t make good on your loan.

Not to worry — your friend is an extremely skilled and prudent poker player who knows when to hold ,em and when to fold ,em. He may lose a hand or two because poker is a game of chance, but by the end of the night, he’s always ahead. He always makes good on his debts to you. He has never had a losing evening. As a creditor of the poker player, this is all you care about. As long as he can make good on his debt, you’re fine. You care only about one thing — that he stays solvent so that he can repay his loan and you get your money back.

But the gambler cares about two things. Sure, he too wants to stay solvent. Insolvency wipes out his investment, which is always unpleasant — it’s bad for his reputation and hurts his chances of being able to use leverage in the future. But the gambler doesn’t just care about avoiding the downside. He also cares about the upside. As the lender, you don’t share in the upside; no matter how much money the gambler makes on his bets, you just get your promised amount of interest.

If there is a chance to win a lot of money, the gambler is willing to take a big risk. After all, his downside is small. He only has $3 at stake. To gain a really large pot of money, the gambler will take a chance on an inside straight.

As the lender of the bulk of his funds, you wouldn't want the gambler to take that chance. You know that when the leverage ratio — the ratio of borrowed funds to personal assets — is 32–1 ($9700 divided by $300), the gambler will take a lot more risk than you’d like. So you keep an eye on the gambler to make sure that he continues to be successful in his play.

But suppose the gambler becomes increasingly reckless. He begins to draw to an inside straight from time to time and pursue other high-risk strategies that require making very large bets that threaten his ability to make good on his promises to you. After all, it’s worth it to him. He’s not playing with very much of his own money. He is playing mostly with your money. How will you respond?

You might stop lending altogether, concerned that you will lose both your interest and your principal. Or you might look for ways to protect yourself. You might demand a higher rate of interest. You might ask the player to put up his own assets as collateral in case he is wiped out. You might impose a covenant that legally restricts the gambler’s behavior, barring him from drawing to an inside straight, for example.

Qualcomm is going to do whatever it takes to fend off Broadcom (QCOM, AVGO)

Mike Blake/Reuters

Broadcom on Monday offered to buy Qualcomm in what would be the largest tech deal on record. Qualcomm is set to reject the unsolicited offer, according to several reports. This sets Broadcom up to start a hostile takeover campaign for its rival, which has been rattled recently by a lawsuit with Apple over licensing fees. Qualcomm shares on Monday traded below the offer price of about $70 per share, suggesting that traders were skeptical.

The semiconductor giant Broadcom is set to enter a taxing campaign in its bid to buy Qualcomm.

Earlier on Monday, Broadcom said it made a $70-per-share offer to Qualcomm shareholders that consists of $60 in cash and $10 in Broadcom shares. If approved, it would be the largest-ever tech acquisition, surpassing the $60 billion tie-up between Dell and EMC in 2016.

But Qualcomm is poised to reject the unsolicited offer worth $103 billion, according to the Financial Times.

The offer price undervalues Qualcomm and is below what its board would seriously consider, the FT reported. That's in spite of the 28% premium that Broadcom's offer places on Qualcomm's closing price Thursday, the eve of the first news report on the deal.

Qualcomm said Monday that its directors were assessing Broadcom's bid and would act in their shareholders' best interest.

Meanwhile, Broadcom is getting ready for a proxy battle and may make its pitch directly to Qualcomm shareholders if the board rejects the deal, Bloomberg reported. Another tactic Broadcom could use is to nominate directors for Qualcomm’s board ahead of the company’s annual general meeting in 2018.

Traders are skeptical of Broadcom's chances. The stock gained again on Monday, but only to as high as $65.32 a share just before noon in New York. That's still shy of the offer price and indicates that traders are playing it safe.

Broadcom's bid is a very ambitious attempt to grow its share of the market for components that go into mobile phones. It's also a timely bid Qualcomm, whose earnings this year have been hurt by a global legal fight with Apple over its licensing fees for patents. The combined company would be third-largest chipmaker behind Intel and Samsung. But that's almost certain to draw the ire of the US Department of Justice for antitrust concerns.

“The crowd always loses because the crowd is always wrong. It is wrong because it behaves normally.” ~ Fred C. Kelly

胡立阳：买股票不懂的方法比赌博还要惨！https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coqHFWr344AUnderstand or not makes no difference ~ Stocks with good FA and TA you tend to quickly sell them away to make alittle bit of kopi money but for lousy stocks, you buy on impulse and hold onto them tightly, year after year. Sometimes you even add more when the share price keeps sliding down. It's human nature to sell the winners and keep the losers. However, Jesse Livermore did the reverse, i.e. sell the losers and keep the winners.

基本面分析 Fundamental Analysis (FA)https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9F%BA%E6%9C%AC%E5%88%86%E6%9E%90FA is based on the intrinsic value of the securities, focusing on the analysis of the various factors that affect the price of the securities and their movements. The basic premise is that the price of securities is determined by its intrinsic value.

技术分析 Technical Analysis (TA)https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%8A%80%E6%9C%AF%E5%88%86%E6%9E%90TA is an analysis methodology for forecasting the direction of prices through the study of past market data, primarily price and volume.

Best World has an issued and paid-up share capital of $20.2 million, comprising 277,196,007 shares including 1,966,250 treasury shares. Following the completion of the proposed share split, Best World will have 554,392,014 issued new shares. ~ 24 Feb 2017

Issuance of 15,500,717 Best World new ordinary shares to SSH, Mr. Shi Jinyu (石金禹) at an issue price of S$0.199 per share on 13 Aug 2013http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/Best%20World_Circular.ashx?App=Prospectus&FileID=19763

The biggest problem with Second Chance is its warrants exercisable @ S$0.25 per share. ~ 7 Dec 2016 http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/2nd%20Chance%20Circular_Final.ashx?App=Prospectus&FileID=30508

(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/K8SkCh-n4rw/maxresdefault.jpg)

Gambling with Other People’s Money

Imagine a superb poker player who asks you for a loan to finance his nightly poker playing. For every $100 he gambles, he’s willing to put up $3 of his own money. He wants you to lend him the rest. You will not get a stake in his winning. Instead, he’ll give you a fixed rate of interest on your $97 loan.

The poker player likes this situation for two reasons. First, it minimizes his downside risk. He can only lose $3. Second, borrowing has a great effect on his investment — it gets leveraged. If his $100 bet ends up yielding $103, he has made a lot more than 3 percent — in fact, he has doubled his money. His $3 investment is now worth $6.

But why would you, the lender, play this game? It’s a pretty risky game for you. Suppose your friend starts out with a stake of $10,000 for the night, putting up $300 himself and borrowing $9,700 from you. If he loses anything more than 3 percent on the night, he can’t make good on your loan.

Not to worry — your friend is an extremely skilled and prudent poker player who knows when to hold ,em and when to fold ,em. He may lose a hand or two because poker is a game of chance, but by the end of the night, he’s always ahead. He always makes good on his debts to you. He has never had a losing evening. As a creditor of the poker player, this is all you care about. As long as he can make good on his debt, you’re fine. You care only about one thing — that he stays solvent so that he can repay his loan and you get your money back.

But the gambler cares about two things. Sure, he too wants to stay solvent. Insolvency wipes out his investment, which is always unpleasant — it’s bad for his reputation and hurts his chances of being able to use leverage in the future. But the gambler doesn’t just care about avoiding the downside. He also cares about the upside. As the lender, you don’t share in the upside; no matter how much money the gambler makes on his bets, you just get your promised amount of interest.

If there is a chance to win a lot of money, the gambler is willing to take a big risk. After all, his downside is small. He only has $3 at stake. To gain a really large pot of money, the gambler will take a chance on an inside straight.

As the lender of the bulk of his funds, you wouldn't want the gambler to take that chance. You know that when the leverage ratio — the ratio of borrowed funds to personal assets — is 32–1 ($9700 divided by $300), the gambler will take a lot more risk than you’d like. So you keep an eye on the gambler to make sure that he continues to be successful in his play.

But suppose the gambler becomes increasingly reckless. He begins to draw to an inside straight from time to time and pursue other high-risk strategies that require making very large bets that threaten his ability to make good on his promises to you. After all, it’s worth it to him. He’s not playing with very much of his own money. He is playing mostly with your money. How will you respond?

You might stop lending altogether, concerned that you will lose both your interest and your principal. Or you might look for ways to protect yourself. You might demand a higher rate of interest. You might ask the player to put up his own assets as collateral in case he is wiped out. You might impose a covenant that legally restricts the gambler’s behavior, barring him from drawing to an inside straight, for example.

The following changes to the securities market structure take effect from 13 November 2017:

Introduce a mid-day break from 12pm to 1pmIncrease minimum bid size for stocks in $1 - $1.99 from $0.005 to $0.01Widen force order range from +/- 20 bids to +/- 30 bidsMid-day Break

A mid-day break will take place from 12pm to 1pm, during which orders will not be matched but participants may enter, amend or cancel orders. An indicative equilibrium price (IEP) will be published to provide an indication of the market level during the break, which ends with an auction. Continuous trading resumes at 1pm.

This change addresses the preference of some market participants for shorter trading hours while retaining significant overlap in trading hours with key markets in Asia. The break also allows trading representatives to engage their clients or for issuers to make announcements during this period.

Minimum Bid Size

The minimum bid size, which represents the smallest increment that the price of a security can move, will widen from $0.005 to $0.01 for stocks and REITs in the $1 - $1.99 price range. This change is in response to market feedback to provide more viable trading opportunities for retail short term traders and promote a more balanced mix of participants in this price range.

Force Order Range

The forced order range, a prescribed price range in which a pre-execution mechanism will provide an alert when the price of an order is placed beyond it, will widen from +/- 20 bids to +/- 30 bids to improve order entry efficiency. Investors will be able to place orders over a wider range of prices before having to “force” through the order.

The revised minimum bid size and force order range schedule with effect from 13 November 2017 is as shown in the table below.

When a stock is in a bear-market territory, the last low will be retested and the share price will move much further down, forming a new record low. Never try and catch a falling knife. Wait for it to hit the ground then pick it up.

OBV (On-Balance Volume) Indicator 能量潮指标http://stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:technical_indicators:on_balance_volume_obvOBV is a momentum indicator that uses volume flow to predict changes in stock price; when volume increases sharply without a significant change in the stock price, the price will eventually jump upward, and vice versa.

The fiasco with Hong Kong’s penny stocks had been spreading like wildfire. How did it happen like this?

Let’s imagine I’m one of the professional traders whose magic flute has many penny stock investors astray, down the abyss to their personal misfortune.

But don’t blame me. I’m no different from the unsupervised child who finds the cookie jar open. I do what every kid does -- I gouge on cookies till I’m stuffed.

I work in a securities firm you see, but my boss is no ordinary broker. He’s a chong kar (莊家) – market maker. He “made” the stock price of the listed companies he controlled.

The trade craft is derived from ancient wisdom. First, make up some good news about a company. Then, the men on the right side of the room call in buy orders, while those on the left side sell them the stock, and vice versa.

The price goes up and up, until the mom-and-pop investors take notice and pile in. Next announce a massive rights issue to scare off the little shareholders, so shares can be picked up at dirt cheap prices. When the timing is right, do it all over again.

The crux is in knowing the right people. It’s a small tight circle of interesting people – legislators, casino princess, medical doctors and toy manufacturers. My boss brought me in but I was a nobody.

To be in a class of my own, I must make it big, and quickly.

My time was in 2011. Beijing had put new stock exchange listings on hold, amid a stagnant A-share market. Mainland Chinese investors were offering hundreds of millions of dollars for a listed shell company in Hong Kong.

I began to cultivate shell companies. First I found a watch trader or wine store. Then I promised the founder a cut of the gain, cooked up the number to meet the listing requirements, and listed the company on the Growth Enterprise Market. The tick-box regulators rarely said no.

I could even have my boys sign up as pre-listing investors for 49 per cent of the issues with only a few million dollars. It would look suspicious to many but not those in the Hong Kong Exchange.

Those shell companies were the equivalent of two-course meals, with the price manipulation as appetiser and the year-end disposal as the main course. The rules were friendly to the practice, so it didn’t require a master chef to prepare the meal.

Under the so-called full placement option, I simply gave the bookrunner a list of my 100 friends, to allocate shares to them. Many mainlanders were eager to loan me their name to get “asset” for their application as “capital migrants” to the city. That rule didn’t change until 2015.

Don’t the regulators check the shareholders’ list? Theoretically yes, but the phones seldom ring. With every share under my control, I can do anything to the share price, whether it’s HK$1 or HK$10.

Next I expand my empire into brokerage and money lending. Lend money to hot-headed entrepreneurs who pledge their listed companies to bet; push down the stock price; snatch control when the entrepreneurs can’t pay up or top up.

I even published my own magazine for dispensing investment advice, and hired my team of key opinion leaders online. The old trick of investment “tips” remains, only the effects have multiplied by infinity in the internet age.

By 2015, my empire had ballooned to control of more than 30 listed companies. I am finally in a class of my own.

My peers said that’s too much. It’s expensive to maintain and too big an eyesore to regulators. That’s cowards talking. Yes, I had to gear up a bit but guts and smartness define success.

A mainland buddy found me a solution: pyramid marketing, not of anti-cancer water, but asset-backed securities.

Invest 10,000 yuan in Hong Kong stocks to get 200,000 yuan in three years! Bring in two friends to get 2,000 shares in real scripts! Three times’ leverage up! Price management by a Chong Kar!

Only a mainlander could come up with these crazy slogans; they worked though. Chinese mom-and-pop investors piled in.

It was a party until the regulators shut the cookie jar. No more full placement. No more spectacular price rise. No more new money. I starved.

Dumping the shares is a no brainer. Does anyone seriously expect a Chong Kar to mind his reputation more than his money? You must be kidding me.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

Understand or not makes no difference ~ Stocks with good FA and TA you tend to quickly sell them away to make alittle bit of kopi money but for lousy stocks, you buy on impulse and hold onto them tightly, year after year. Sometimes you even add more when the share price keeps sliding down. It's human nature to sell the winners and keep the losers. However, Jesse Livermore did the reverse, i.e. sell the losers and keep the winners.

Understand or not makes no difference ~ Stocks with good FA and TA you tend to quickly sell them away to make alittle bit of kopi money but for lousy stocks, you buy on impulse and hold onto them tightly, year after year. Sometimes you even add more when the share price keeps sliding down. It's human nature to sell the winners and keep the losers. However, Jesse Livermore did the reverse, i.e. sell the losers and keep the winners.

I will never buy Centurion at current price because from a TA perspective, it's at the last leg of the impulsive Wave-5.

Coupled with the 74,791,734 outstanding company warrants with an exercise price of S$0.50 per share issued on 27 Oct 2013 had already expired on 27 Oct 2017, i.e. the immediate support @ S$0.50 is shaky.

Centurion has a high gearing of 64%, bond investors would be better off than stock investor as its 85 million 2020 Singdollar bonds issued on 12 Apr 2017 pay 5.25% interest.

Foreign exchange hedgehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_exchange_hedgeThe Singapore dollar is a good hedging currency against Malaysia ringgit.

The USD-MYR currency is hovering at 4.20, the SGD-MYR currency is hovering at 3.15，past 3 months.

USD-MYR ~ 1996 to 1998

(http://uploads.kinibiz.com/2015/03/chart-1-1usd-to-rm-96-to-98.png)

Wilmar International – Why Wilmar is my number 1 stock pick ~ 3 Feb 2014https://tradingstock4aliving.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/wilmar-international-why-wilmar-is-my-number-1-stock-pick/I have invested Wilmar International since September 2012 when price was at around SGD 3.10 with exchange rate at RM 2.46.Wilmar was my first foreign investment as all this while I am buying bursa stocks.

As you can see from Quadrant A in the Currency Bet Outcome graph, what the buyer wants to happen is for both the value of his property and the Singapore dollar to increase. If this happens, jackpot!

First, he makes money on his Singapore property. Then, he converts his Singapore dollars into his home currency and makes more money from the currency differential.

The worst outcome is Quadrant D. A drop in property value and a weakening of the Singapore dollar deliver a double whammy. Not only does he have less Singapore dollars than when he started, but he converts his Singapore dollars into less home currency.

The unknown outcome occurs when property value and the Singapore dollar move in opposite directs to one another. (See Quadrant C and D.)

Whether the investor comes out ahead or loses depends on which of the two variables had the stronger positive movement.

In order to illustrate, let’s look at a hypothetical transaction that was based loosely on an actual transaction in Sentosa. (The currency has been changed but the principles of the transaction are reflective of the actual situation. Also, the illustration doesn’t account for transaction costs, taxes, etc.).

In June 2012, a Japanese buyer exchanges 1.25 billion Japanese Yen (JPY) for $ 20.2 million and buys a house in Sentosa. (Exchange rate: 1 SGD = 61.96 JPY.)

His net profit in Japanese Yen is 1.37 billion minus 1.25 billion or 120 million JPY, which is about $1.5 million.

In this case, despite the fact that he sold the house at a loss, he made a profit.

Carry Trade

A carry trade is when investors borrow in a low-yielding currency, such as the yen or the euro, to fund investments in higher-yielding assets elsewhere.

A currency carry trade is a strategy in which an investor sells a certain currency with a relatively low interest rate and uses the funds to purchase a different currency yielding a higher interest rate.

Support @ RM5.51 has been tested the 3rd time yesterday, 16 Nov 2017. I was told if you keep poking the floor; one fine day after numerous attempts of poking, it will be poked thru all the way down, eventually.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

Spending Bitcoin in the real world is much simpler with this new Visa Card ~ 17 Nov 2017https://www.psfk.com/2017/11/spending-bitcoin-simpler-new-visa-card.htmlThe 'Dragoncard,' backed by London Block Exchange, converts Bitcoin into money at the moment of each transaction

Just sharing.. found this stock mkt group chat to be very good. Many strong knowledgeable members are contributing in the discussions. I personally find it useful.. most importantly, it is 100% free! Is on telegram.. search under "bull eye master" @ telegram

DATAPULSE TECHNOLOGY LIMITED(Incorporated in the Republic of Singapore)(Company Registration No. 198002677D)PROPOSED ACQUISITION OF AN INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY AT TOA PAYOH– TERMINATIONThe board of directors (“Directors” or the “Board”) of Datapulse Technology Limited (“Company”together with its subsidiaries, “Group”) refers to the query from the Singapore Exchange SecuritiesTrading Limited (“SGX-ST”) on 15 November 2017 regarding the termination of the proposedacquisition of an industrial property at Toa Payoh (the “Toa Payoh Property”) as announced on 14November 2017.All capitalised terms used and not defined herein shall have the same meanings given to them in theCircular dated 12 September 2017.Query 1:What are the implications, including any financial implications, to the termination of the Option topurchase of the Toa Payoh property?Response:Upon the grant of the option to purchase (the “Option”) on 4 August 2017, the Group had paid anoption fee of $112,350 (inclusive of GST) (the “Option Fee”) being 1% of the aggregate considerationof $10,500,000 (“Consideration”). Upon exercise of the Option on 18 September 2017, the Grouphad paid a balance deposit of $1,011,150 (inclusive of GST) (the “Balance Deposit’) being 9% of theConsideration.Under the terms of the Option, if the approval for the change of use is refused by the relevantauthorities, either party shall be at liberty to terminate the sale and purchase of the property. Allmonies paid shall be refunded. The Group’s solicitors had written to the vendor’s solicitors for therefund of $1,123,500, being the Option Fee and Balance Deposit paid.In addition, the Group had paid stamp duty of $309,600 upon acceptance of the Option. Our solicitorswill be arranging for the refund of the stamp duty paid from the Commissioner of Stamp Duties.Query 2:In view that the option to sell the Company’s existing property was exercised, how will yourmanufacturing activities be impacted and what are the Company’s plans?Response:The Management is currently considering ceasing its manufacturing activities and exploring otherbusiness and investment opportunities. The Company does not expect a material impact to theCompany’s financial position if it ceases the Company’s manufacturing activities as that part of thebusiness is currently loss making. In the event that the Management decides to continue theCompany’s manufacturing activities and alternative premises cannot be secured prior to thecompletion of the Proposed Disposal, there will be some disruption to the Company’s manufacturingactivities. However, the financial and business implications will not be material.BY ORDER OF THE BOARDLee Kam SengChief Financial Officer and Company Secretary18 November 2017

One of the Elliott Wave rules stated that Wave-3 cannot be the shortest wave. Usually for commodities, Wave-5 will be the longest wave; while for stocks, Wave-3 will be the longest wave and a minimum target for Wave-5 is 100% of Wave-1. The best thing about Elliott wave patterns? Easy: They repeat. They repeat on all timeframes, across dozens of markets, all over the world. Once you know what to look for, you see the familiar 5s and 3s repeat in every chart.

The substantial shareholder for forise is Wang xin As Long as it nvr changes, I will stay vested

The biggest problem with Forise is its rights issue of 2,065,000,000 shares @ $0.005 per sharehttp://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/Great%20Group_Qualified%20Opinion%20and%20EOM.ashx?App=Announcement&FileID=341714

Imagine a superb poker player who asks you for a loan to finance his nightly poker playing. For every $100 he gambles, he’s willing to put up $3 of his own money. He wants you to lend him the rest. You will not get a stake in his winning. Instead, he’ll give you a fixed rate of interest on your $97 loan.

The poker player likes this situation for two reasons. First, it minimizes his downside risk. He can only lose $3. Second, borrowing has a great effect on his investment — it gets leveraged. If his $100 bet ends up yielding $103, he has made a lot more than 3 percent — in fact, he has doubled his money. His $3 investment is now worth $6.

But why would you, the lender, play this game? It’s a pretty risky game for you. Suppose your friend starts out with a stake of $10,000 for the night, putting up $300 himself and borrowing $9,700 from you. If he loses anything more than 3 percent on the night, he can’t make good on your loan.

Not to worry — your friend is an extremely skilled and prudent poker player who knows when to hold ,em and when to fold ,em. He may lose a hand or two because poker is a game of chance, but by the end of the night, he’s always ahead. He always makes good on his debts to you. He has never had a losing evening. As a creditor of the poker player, this is all you care about. As long as he can make good on his debt, you’re fine. You care only about one thing — that he stays solvent so that he can repay his loan and you get your money back.

But the gambler cares about two things. Sure, he too wants to stay solvent. Insolvency wipes out his investment, which is always unpleasant — it’s bad for his reputation and hurts his chances of being able to use leverage in the future. But the gambler doesn’t just care about avoiding the downside. He also cares about the upside. As the lender, you don’t share in the upside; no matter how much money the gambler makes on his bets, you just get your promised amount of interest.

If there is a chance to win a lot of money, the gambler is willing to take a big risk. After all, his downside is small. He only has $3 at stake. To gain a really large pot of money, the gambler will take a chance on an inside straight.

As the lender of the bulk of his funds, you wouldn't want the gambler to take that chance. You know that when the leverage ratio — the ratio of borrowed funds to personal assets — is 32–1 ($9700 divided by $300), the gambler will take a lot more risk than you’d like. So you keep an eye on the gambler to make sure that he continues to be successful in his play.

But suppose the gambler becomes increasingly reckless. He begins to draw to an inside straight from time to time and pursue other high-risk strategies that require making very large bets that threaten his ability to make good on his promises to you. After all, it’s worth it to him. He’s not playing with very much of his own money. He is playing mostly with your money. How will you respond?

You might stop lending altogether, concerned that you will lose both your interest and your principal. Or you might look for ways to protect yourself. You might demand a higher rate of interest. You might ask the player to put up his own assets as collateral in case he is wiped out. You might impose a covenant that legally restricts the gambler’s behavior, barring him from drawing to an inside straight, for example.

The biggest problem with Forise is its rights issue of 2,065,000,000 shares @ S$0.005 per share ~ 2 April 2015http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/Great%20Group_Qualified%20Opinion%20and%20EOM.ashx?App=Announcement&FileID=341714

China’s central bank issues orders to rein in peer-to-peer lenders and micro-loans platforms ~ 22 Nov 2017https://sg.news.yahoo.com/china-central-bank-issues-orders-000245404.htmlEffective immediately, no new licenses can be issued for online platforms, while brick-and-mortar lenders can only operate within their registered locations, according to the central bank’s November 21 instructions.

Twenty-two percent of respondents to Bank of America Merrill Lynch's November Global Fund Manager Survey said their greatest worry is a sharp drop in bonds is the biggest "tail risk," or worry for the market.

The findings come just as some key global bond yields have climbed to multi-year highs in the last few days.

"If you see further weakening in bond markets, particularly credit bond markets or corporate bond markets, it's going to have a negative impact on stock markets," Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at BofAML, told CNBC in a phone interview Tuesday.

China’s central bank injects $47bn into financial system

Largest intervention in almost a year sends bond yields down from 3-year high

By Don Weinland in Hong Kong and Yuan Yang in BeijingNovember 16, 2017

China’s central bank injected $47bn into its financial system, its largest intervention in nearly a year, in an effort to calm investor fears that Beijing’s crackdown on debt-fuelled growth would put a brake on the country’s rapid expansion.

Yields on China’s benchmark 10-year sovereign bond had risen above 4 per cent this week, a level not seen since 2014, following a sell-off that began following last month’s Communist party Congress, where the outgoing People’s Bank of China chief warned of the risks from excessive debt and speculative investment.

Although Thursday’s Rmb310bn injection saw the yield eased to 3.98 per cent from an intraday day peak of 4.015 per cent, analysts warned the PBoC had no clear target and that yields could rise beyond 4 per cent again without further easing.

“They don’t want the market to panic but I don’t think they have a set target,” said Zhou Hao, senior emerging markets economist at Commerzbank in Singapore.

Emerging markets have been suffering a rough patch as investors have retrenched following Venezuela’s recent bond default, Saudi Arabia’s threatening war against Iran and continued political turbulence in Turkey. The jitters have also resulted in price swings for commodities such as metals and oil.

But China has come under particular scrutiny after recent remarks by policymakers that they are determined to crack down on easy credit, which many analysts believe has created bubbles and oversupply throughout the economy.

Loose monetary policy in China has helped keep bond yields artificially low as central bank liquidity — often in the form of stimulus intended to support the economy — has flowed into financial markets.

But policymakers are concerned the easy credit has masked concerns over the build-up of bad debt and a slowdown in China’s economy. The PBoC’s recent decision to hold off on adding liquidity to the system has led to a correction in Chinese markets as those fears are priced in.

“There should be a credit-risk premium but yields have been distorted by all the liquidity,” said Kevin Lai, chief economist for Asia ex-Japan at Daiwa Capital Markets in Hong Kong. “This year they have stopped the liquidity and the bond market is only now catching up with reality.”

Yields remained steady during the party congress in October as banks, mutual funds and other state-backed institutions — often referred to as the “national team” for their role in stabilising the market — continued to buy sovereign debt.

But the buying has recently slowed amid signs the government planned to rein in credit growth.

“Investors, in particular mutual funds which have become the second-largest buyer of China’s government bonds, had previously bought sovereign debt because they had assumed the government would loosen [credit] in the fourth quarter in order to achieve the GDP growth target,” said Jonas Short, Beijing head of Sun Hung Kai Financial, an investment bank. “But the realisation that in fact there will be no loosening whatsoever has triggered the sell-off.”

Bollinger Bands Breakout: "Up like a rocket, down like a stick."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHOA-Dzv37U

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

The significant difference between price crashing down on low volume and price crashing down on high volumeSometimes, certain signals could only be visible on the chart when the share price starts its unusual / volatile movement (up or down all in a row, with or without volume). Bollinger bands are very powerful technical indicator. When using it as a key indicator, volume is not necessarily required, instead, the breakout (upside or downside) at the upper or lower Bollinger band is more important. Likewise, in a downtrend, volume is not required for a downside breakout at support level. However, in an uptrend, volume is necessary for an upside breakout at resistance level. A price drop (or rise) on high volume all in a row is a stronger signal indicating that something in the stock has fundamentally changed.

Using the price and the volume as a trend indicator:1. High volume is bearish when the stock is in distributing mode.2. High volume is bullish when the stock is in accumulating mode.3. Do not catch a stock falling on high volume or one that is rising on thin volume.

ELENA CHONG, THE STRAITS TIMESOct 03, 2017 06:00 am 193 SharesTwo years after being hailed as best chief financial officer at the Singapore Corporate Awards, Chan Chee Kin fell from grace after being caught taking upskirt videos of women.

Yesterday, the 42-year-old former chief financial officer at listed Midas Holdings was jailed for four weeks after pleading guilty last week to using his mobile phone to record the videos.

Chan had insulted the modesty of women four times in Orchard Road on June 21 last year.

He pleaded guilty to two counts - committed at 313@ Somerset and Dhoby Ghaut MRT - and had two other similar charges committed at Lucky Plaza and Orchard MRT taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.

Investigations showed that Chan was at 313@ Somerset mall when he saw the first victim at around 1.25pm that day.

He turned on the video-recording app on his mobile phone and stood behind her on the upriding escalator before recording a 2 ½-minute long upskirt video.

ELENA CHONG, THE STRAITS TIMESOct 03, 2017 06:00 am 193 SharesTwo years after being hailed as best chief financial officer at the Singapore Corporate Awards, Chan Chee Kin fell from grace after being caught taking upskirt videos of women.

Yesterday, the 42-year-old former chief financial officer at listed Midas Holdings was jailed for four weeks after pleading guilty last week to using his mobile phone to record the videos.

Chan had insulted the modesty of women four times in Orchard Road on June 21 last year.

He pleaded guilty to two counts - committed at 313@ Somerset and Dhoby Ghaut MRT - and had two other similar charges committed at Lucky Plaza and Orchard MRT taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.

Investigations showed that Chan was at 313@ Somerset mall when he saw the first victim at around 1.25pm that day.

He turned on the video-recording app on his mobile phone and stood behind her on the upriding escalator before recording a 2 ½-minute long upskirt video.

What about the ex-bank officer who committed a similar offence? That particular person is just an employee of the bank and it's his personal activity, at worse he gets a sack. The fundamentals of the bank remains strong; its reputation and profitability won't be affected and it will be business as usual.

Instead of reading individual scandalous news, you should spend more time on the fundamentals and the technical charts of a listed company.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

Stock up on IndoAgri when its price goes down, says DBS ~ 3 May 2017https://www.theedgesingapore.com/stock-indofood-agri-when-its-price-goes-down-says-dbsDBS Group Research is maintaining Indofood Agri Resources at "hold" with a target price of 56 cents, pending changes in its forecasts."We believe any downside price movement could be a good opportunity to collect IndoAgri," says analyst Ben Santoso in a Tuesday report.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

Bollinger Band Squeezehttp://stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:trading_strategies:bollinger_band_squee

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

M1 is riding on the sub-wave (iii) of the corrective Wave-C down. Once the last low @ S$1.705 is broken convincingly with high volume, the next new target price would be S$1.40.

Bollinger Band Squeezehttp://stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:trading_strategies:bollinger_band_squee

The substantial shareholder for forise is Wang xin As Long as it nvr changes, I will stay vested

胡立阳：买股票不懂的方法比赌博还要惨！https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coqHFWr344A

The biggest problem with Forise is its rights issue of 2,065,000,000 shares @ S$0.005 per share ~ 2 April 2015http://infopub.sgx.com/FileOpen/Great%20Group_Qualified%20Opinion%20and%20EOM.ashx?App=Announcement&FileID=341714

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

This local engineering firm may have a big exposure to China’s debt problem

By Ong Kai KiatMay 13, 2016

Last week, I wrote about how China may be encountering some big debt-related problems.

One small engineering company in Singapore that has big exposure to China would be ISDN Holdings Limited (SGX: I07). In 2015, three-quarters of its total revenue of S$236 million had come from China.

There’s something else interesting to note and that is ISDN’s connection to Chinese power outfit China Huadian. In 2013, ISDN announced that it had signed a MOU with the Chinese company to pursue power-related projects.

According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, China Huadian currently has net debt of RMB372 billion (total debt of RMB386 billion and cash & equivalents of RMB14.0 billion) but shareholder’s equity of just RMB54.3 billion. The company’s balance sheet is mired in debt.

China Huadian is a part of the China South Industries Group Corporation, which also has Baoding Tianwei Group under its umbrella. Baoding Tianwei is in turn, currently undergoing bankruptcy procedures.

Given that Baoding Tianwei has filed for bankruptcy, it’s evident that China South Industries Group, a Chinese state-owned enterprise, has either failed or refused to provide much assistance. If China Huadian runs into financial difficulties, would it suffer a similar fate as Baoding Tianwei?

A Fool’s take

The soundness of ISDN’s revenue in the future would depend on how it is able to diversify its client base and geographic concentration. Can it do so? Time will tell.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

Dead cat bounce: There are 2 theoriesThe first theory is that, after falling sharply, the stock has finally hit bottom. "Shorts" are closing out their positions and buying the stock back to cash out their gains before the stock shoots even higher. This could happen if other shorts get squeezed by the price spike, and are forced to close their own short positions, propelling the stock even higher. The second theory is that, the stock has not hit bottom, and after shorter-term shorts have taken their profits, the longer-term naysayers will return and resume selling the stock short. In short, this is a dead cat bounce in the stock's price, and one that won't change the underlying fact that things are not going well for the company.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

Among the 4 major gameplays in the stock market; the toughest one is No. 4.(But No. 4 has the highest returns if played correctly, especially when it involves relative valuations between related listed companies.)

Hyflux 6% Perp 2020 ~ 有价无市的股票 (股票在市场上有高的价格，但是市场需求很小，要买得人少，很难卖出去。)Hyflux 6% Perp 2020 has very wide spread because of extremely thin daily volume. This particular type of bond is basically targetted at retailers and it does not have big institutional players to do share price stabilization.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. — Glencore plc has reached a standstill agreement that, at least in the short term, prevents it from making a hostile bid for Bunge Ltd., according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. Citing sources familiar with the situation, the WSJ indicated that the news raises the possibility that Glencore is planning to renew its effort to acquire Bunge.Glencore, a Barr, Switzerland-based miner and commodities trader, made a takeover approach for White Plains, New York, U.S.-based Bunge in mid-May. At that time, Glencore called it an “informal approach,” and said that “discussion may or may not materialize and there is no certainty that any transaction will occur.”

Bunge, meanwhile, said that it was “not engaged in business combination discussions with Glencore Agriculture Limited or Glencore plc.” The company added that it was “committed to continuing to execute its global agri-foods strategy and pursuing opportunities for driving growth and value creation.”

In an Oct. 13 research report, Robert Moskow, a research analyst with Credit Suisse, said the standstill agreement indicates an interest by both Glencore and Bunge to partner with each other in a joint venture in the short term. Longer term, it appears Glencore is interested in buying Bunge, Moskow said.

“This agreement would appear to give Glencore access to otherwise confidential information but prevent it from making a bid until next year,” Moskow wrote in the report. “We would not be surprised if such an arrangement and delaying any deal until 2018 would buy Glencore more time to reap additional FCF from current high copper, coal and zinc prices, boosting its ability to put forward a more attractive offer to Bunge given Glencore is finalizing (approximately) $1.5 billion of recently agreed acquisitions.”

Moskow added that Bunge’s recent acquisition of Loders Croklaan combined with capital expenditure cuts and $250 million in cost savings initiatives have been undertaken to maximize shareholder value rather than deter Glencore from a potential takeover.

“Glencore management has clearly telegraphed its intentions to expand in the agribusiness space through acquisitions, and Bunge’s global footprint and value-added capabilities make it a logical partner,” Moskow said. “We re-iterate our outperform rating with a $90 target price and an EPS estimate of $3 for FY17.”

According to the WSJ, the standstill expires early next year. In the meantime, it prevents Glencore from buying stock in Bunge or from making any public, unsolicited offers.

Value Traphttps://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/valuetrap.aspDefinition of Value Trap: A stock that appears to be cheap because the stock has been trading at low multiples of earnings, cash flow or book value for an extended time period. Stock traps attract investors who are looking for a bargain because these stocks are inexpensive. The trap springs when investors buy into the company at low prices and the stock never improves. Trading that occurs at low multiples of earnings, cash flow or book value for long periods of time might indicate that the company or the entire sector is in trouble, and that stock prices may not move higher.

The free float of a listed company must be greater than 15% and the free float includes portfolio investments, nominee holdings and holdings by investment companies. A stock must also trade with a median daily turnover value of at least 0.05% of the value of its free float-adjusted shares in issue for at least 10 out of the last 12 months.

The most powerful volatility breakout indicator is the Bollinger Bands. Relatively narrow band width can predict a big advance or decline. When volatility expands and a stock or index breaks out of a trading range, it signals a change to a period of higher volatility and a possible directional move.

In technical analysis, history repeats itself. The theory behind chart pattern is based on this assumption. The idea is that certain patterns repeat many times, and that these patterns signal a certain high probability move in a stock. Based on the historic trend of a chart pattern setting up a certain price movement, look for these patterns to identify trading opportunities. Follow the smart money; they sell, you follow sell, not buy.

PROPOSED RENOUNCEABLE NON-UNDERWRITTEN RIGHTS ISSUE OF UP TO179,972,475 WARRANTS AT AN ISSUE PRICE OF S$0.02 FOR EACH WARRANT ONTHE BASIS OF ONE (1) WARRANT FOR EVERY TWO (2) EXISTING ORDINARYSHARES IN THE CAPITAL OF THE COMPANY HELD BY SHAREHOLDERS AS AT ABOOKS CLOSURE DATE TO BE DETERMINED

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The board of directors (the “Directors”) of ISDN Holdings Limited (the “Company”)wishes to announce that the Company is proposing to undertake a renounceablenon-underwritten rights issue (the “Warrants Issue”) of up to 179,972,475 warrants(the “Warrants”) at an issue price of S$0.02 (the “Issue Price”) for each Warrant, eachWarrant carrying the right to subscribe for one (1) new ordinary share in the capital ofthe Company (the “New Shares”) at an exercise price of S$0.60 (the “Exercise Price”),on the basis of one (1) Warrant for every two (2) existing ordinary shares in the capitalof the Company (the “Shares”) held as at a books closure date to be determined by theDirectors (the “Books Closure Date”), fractional entitlements to be disregarded.

1.2 To demonstrate its strong commitment to and continuing support for the Company,the Undertaking Shareholder (as defined below), who holds an aggregate of127,890,250 Shares representing approximately 35.5% of the aggregate voting rightsin the Company as at the date hereof, will undertake to the Company that it will fullysubscribe for the Undertaking Shareholder’s pro-rata entitlement to the Warrantsunder the Warrants Issue (as detailed in paragraph 3 below), as well as apply for allExcess Warrants (as defined below).

2. PROPOSED PRINCIPAL TERMS OF THE WARRANTS ISSUEEligibility To Participate In The Warrants Issue2.1 Up to 179,972,475 Warrants will be offered at the Issue Price per Warrant, on thebasis of one (1) Warrant for every two (2) Shares held by Shareholders as at theBooks Closure Date

2.2 The Company is proposing the Warrants Issue to Shareholders whose registeredaddresses with the Company or The Central Depository (Pte) Limited (“CDP”), as thecase may be, are in Singapore as at the Books Closure Date or who have, at leastfive (5) market days prior to the Books Closure Date, provided to the Company or theCDP, as the case may be, addresses in Singapore for the service of notices anddocuments (the “Entitled Shareholders”).

2.3 For practical reasons and in order to avoid any violation of the relevant legislationapplicable in countries other than Singapore, the Warrants will not be offered toShareholders with registered addresses outside Singapore as at the Books ClosureDate and who have not, at least five (5) market days prior to the Books Closure Date,provided to the Company or the CDP, as the case may be, addresses in Singapore forthe service of notices and documents (the “Foreign Shareholders”).

2.4 The entitlements to Warrants which would otherwise be provisionally allotted to theForeign Shareholders may, if it is practicable to do so, be sold “nil-paid” on SGX-STas soon as practicable after the commencement of trading of nil-paid rights. The netproceeds of such sales (after deducting any applicable brokerage, commissions andexpenses, including goods and services tax) will be aggregated and paid to ForeignShareholders in proportion to their respective shareholdings as at the Books ClosureDate, save that no payment will be made for amounts of less than S$10 to a single orjoint Foreign Shareholder, which amounts will be aggregated and will ultimatelyretained to the benefit of the Company or dealt with as the Directors, in their absolutediscretion, deem fit in the interests of the Company.

2.5 Any entitlements to the Warrants which are not taken up in the Warrants Issue(“Excess Warrants”) will be aggregated and allotted to satisfy excess applications,disposed of or otherwise dealt with in such manner as the Directors may, in theirabsolute discretion, deem fit in the interests of the Company.Other Principal Terms

2.6 As at the date hereof, the existing issued share capital of the Company (excludingtreasury shares) is 359,944,950 Shares (the “Existing Share Capital”).

2.7 Based on the Existing Share Capital and assuming the Warrants Issue is fullysubscribed, 179,972,475 Warrants will be issued by the Company (the “MaximumSubscription Scenario”).

2.8 The Entitled Shareholders will be free to accept in full or in part, decline or otherwiserenounce their provisional allotments of Warrants under the Warrants Issue, and willalso be eligible to apply for additional Warrants in excess of their provisionalallotments.

2.9 In the allotment of excess Warrants, preference will be given to the rounding of oddlots, the Directors and substantial Shareholders will rank last in priority, and theCompany will not make any allotment and issue of excess Warrants which will resultin a transfer of controlling interest in the Company unless otherwise approved byShareholders in a general meeting.

2.10 The Warrants will be issued in registered form and will be listed and traded on theMain Board of Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (“SGX-ST”) under thebook-entry (scripless) settlement system, upon the listing and quotation of theWarrants on SGX-ST, subject to, inter alia, there being an adequate spread ofholdings of the Warrants to provide for an orderly market in the Warrants. EachWarrant will, subject to the terms and conditions governing the Warrants to be set outin an instrument by way of a deed poll (the “Deed Poll”), entitle its holder to subscribefor one (1) New Share at the Exercise Price at any time during the periodcommencing on and including the date of issue of the Warrants and expiring on thedate immediately preceding the fifth (5th) anniversary of the date of issue of theWarrants.

2.11 The Issue Price and Execise Price together represent a discount of 55.6% from theclosing price of S$1.35 per Share traded on SGX-ST on 17 June 2013, being the lasttrading day prior to the date of this announcement.

2.12 The Exercise Price and the number of Warrants to be held by each holder of Warrantswill be subject to adjustments under certain circumstances in accordance with theDeed Poll. The New Shares to be issued upon the exercise of the Warrants will, uponallotment and issue, rank pari passu in all respects with the then existing Shares,save for any dividends, rights, allotments or other distributions which may be declaredor paid, the record date for which falls before the relevant date of exercise of theWarrants.

2.13 The terms and conditions of the Warrants Issue are subject to such changes as theDirectors may deem fit. The final terms and conditions of the Warrants Issue will becontained in the offer information statement to be issued by the Company inconnection with the Warrants Issue (the “Offer Information Statement”).

3. IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKINGS BY UNDERTAKING SHAREHOLDER

3.1 As at the date of this announcement, Assetraise Holdings Limited (the “Undertaking

Shareholder”), holds an aggregate of 127,890,250 Shares, representingapproximately 35.5% of the aggregate voting rights in the Company. The UndertakingShareholder is wholly-owned by Mr. Teo Cher Koon, a Director.

3.2 In connection with the Warrants Issue, the Undertaking Shareholder will provide tothe Company irrevocable undertakings, subject to certain conditions, that:

(a) the Undertaking Shareholder will subscribe for the Undertaking Shareholder’sWarrants entitlements under the Warrants Issue, which represent anaggregate of 63,945,125 Warrants; and

(b) the Undertaking Shareholder will apply for all Excess Warrants,(the “Irrevocable Undertakings”).

(a) the Whitewash Waiver (as defined below) being granted by the SIC (as definedbelow) and not having been withdrawn or revoked as at the date of completionof the Warrants Issue;

(b) approval in-principle of SGX-ST for the dealing in, listing and quotation of theWarrants and New Shares on the Mainboard of SGX-ST having been obtainedand such approval not having been withdrawn or revoked as at the date ofcompletion of the Warrants Issue;

(c) the Warrants Issue and the issue of the Warrants and the New Shares beingapproved by Shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting of theCompany to be held (“EGM”); and

(d) the Whitewash Resolution (as defined below) being approved by theIndependent Shareholders (as defined below) at the EGM.3.5 After taking into consideration the costs of engaging an underwriter and having to paycommission in relation to the underwriting, and in view of the IrrevocableUndertakings, the Company has decided to proceed with the Warrants Issue on anon-underwritten basis.4. PURPOSE OF THE WARRANTS ISSUE AND USE OF PROCEEDS

4.1 As previously disclosed by the Company, the Group has embarked on adiversification strategy since 2009. On 8 March 2013 and 1 June 2013, the Companyannounced proposed ventures into the business of constructing, operating andmaintaining hydropower plants in Indonesia. In addition, the Group had announcedproposed ventures into the businesses of (a) developing and operations of a coalmine and the production of coal; and (b) constructing, operating and maintaininghydropower plants, in Myanmar.

4.2 More recently, on 5 June 2013, the Company announced that the Company hadentered into a non-legally binding Memorandum of Understanding dated 4 June 2013with IDI Infrastructures Inc., a Japanese fund management company with energyinfrastructure focused funds, investing in energy and infrastructure assets in Japanand Asia, to explore opportunities to develop and invest into energy projects andexpand international power producer businesses in Asia.

.3 In view of the foregoing, the Directors believe that the Warrants Issue will provideShareholders who are confident of the future prospects of the Company, with theopportunity to obtain further equity participation in the Company, by acquiring theWarrants and/or subscribing for the New Shares through the exercise of the Warrants.In addition, the proceeds from the subscription for the Warrants will provide theCompany with immediate financing, and in addition the exercise of the Warrants (asand when that may occur) will provide additional financial flexibility to the Group.

4.4 In the Maximum Subscription Scenario, the gross proceeds from the subscription ofthe Warrants and assuming all such Warrants are exercised, is approximatelyS$111.6 million. The estimated gross proceeds from the exercise of such Warrantsalone, amounts to approximately S$108.0 million. Details of the estimated netproceeds from the subscription of the Warrants and assuming all such Warrants isexercised, after deducting professional fees as well as related expenses incurred inconnection with the Warrants Issue, will be disclosed in the Circular (as definedbelow).

4.5 In view of the Irrevocable Undertakings, the gross proceeds from the subscription ofall the Warrants alone and assuming none of such Warrants is exercised, isapproximately S$3.6 million.

4.6 The Company intends to utilise the net proceeds raised from the Warrants Issue andthe exercise of the Warrants for working capital purposes for the energy-relatedbusiness of the Group, as well as to fund energy-related acquisitions by the Group,with the former taking priority. The aforementioned energy-related acquisitions by theGroup include but is not limited to the conditional energy opportunities with Tun ThwinMining Co., Ltd as announced by the Company on 22 May 2013 and 1 June 2013.

4.7 Pending the deployment of the net proceeds from the Warrants Issue, the netproceeds may be deposited with banks and/or financial institutions, invested inshort-term money market instruments and/or marketable securities, or used for anyother purpose on a short-term basis, as the Directors may, in their absolute discretion,deem fit.

4.8 The Company will comply with Rule 704(30) and 1207(20) of the listing manual of theSGX-ST, and where proceeds of the Warrants Issue and the exercise of the Warrantsare to be used for working capital purposes, the Company will disclose a breakdownwith specific details on the use of proceeds for working capital in the Company’sannouncements on use of proceeds.

5. THE WHITEWASH RESOLUTION

5.1 Under Rule 14.1 of the Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers (the “Code”),where (a) any person who acquires whether by a series of transactions over a periodof time or not, shares which (taken together with shares held or acquired by personsacting in concert with him) carrying 30% or more of the voting rights in the Company;or (b) any person who together with persons acting in concert with him, holds not lessthan 30% but not more than 50% of the voting rights in the Company and such person,or any person acting in concert with him, acquires in any period of six (6) monthsadditional Shares carrying more than one per cent. (1%) voting rights, he is requiredto make a mandatory general offer for all the Shares in the Company which he doesnot already own or control (“Mandatory Offer”).

5.2 The fulfillment by the Undertaking Shareholder, of the Undertaking Shareholder’sobligations under the Irrevocable Undertaking and the exercise of the Warrantsissued to the Undertaking Shareholder pursuant to such fulfillment, may result in theaggregate shareholding of the Undertaking Shareholder, which amounts to not lessthan 30% but not more than 50% of the Company’s share capital prior to the Warrants

Issue, to increase by more than one per cent. (1%), thereby triggering a requirementfor the Undertaking Shareholder and parties acting in concert with the UndertakingShareholder to make the Mandatory Offer unless the approval of a resolution(“Whitewash Resolution”) for the waiver of the rights of the IndependentShareholders (as defined below) to receive the Mandatory Offer for the Companyfrom the Undertaking Shareholder and parties acting in concert with the UndertakingShareholder is obtained from the independent Shareholders (being Shareholdersother than the Undertaking Shareholder and parties acting in concert with theUndertaking Shareholder) (“Independent Shareholders”). As such, Company, onbehalf of the Undertaking Shareholder and parties acting in concert with theUndertaking Shareholder, will be making an application to the Securities IndustryCouncil (“SIC”) for, inter alia, a waiver of the Undertaking Shareholder’s obligationsand the parties acting in concert with the Undertaking Shareholder to make theMandatory Offer as a result of the exercise of the Warrants subscribed by theUndertaking Shareholder under the Warrants Issue (the “Whitewash Waiver”).

5.3 An independent financial adviser will be appointed by the Company to advise theDirectors who are independent for the purposes of making the recommendation to theIndependent Shareholders in respect of the Whitewash Resolution. Details of suchindependent financial adviser as well as further details of the Whitewash Waiver willbe set out in the Circular (as defined below).

6. APPROVALSThe implementation of and the offer of Warrants under the Warrants Issue are subjectto, inter alia:

(a) the grant of the Whitewash Waiver by the SIC;

(b) approval in-principle of SGX-ST for the dealing in, listing and quotation of theWarrants and New Shares on the Mainboard of SGX-ST having beenobtained;

(c) the approval of Shareholders for the Warrants Issue, and the issue of theWarrants and the New Shares at the EGM;

(d) the approval of Independent Shareholders for the Whitewash Resolution atthe EGM; and

(e) the lodgment of the Offer Information Statement with the Monetary Authority ofSingapore.

An application will be made to SGX-ST for permission to deal in and for the listingand quotation of the Warrants and New Shares on the Mainboard of SGX-ST. TheCompany will announce the outcome of the application in due course, together withthe indicative timetable for the Warrants Issue.

. OTHER INFORMATION

A circular setting out information on, together with a notice of the EGM, to approve,amongst other things, the Warrants Issue, will be dispatched to the Company to theShareholders in due course (the “Circular”).

8. INTERESTS OF DIRECTORS AND CONTROLLING SHAREHOLDERS

Save as otherwise disclosed herein in respect of Mr. Teo Cher Koon’s interests in theUndertaking Shareholder, none of the Directors or substantial Shareholders and/ortheir respective associates has any interest, direct or indirect, in the transactionsdisclosed above (other than through their respective shareholdings in the Company).

9. RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT

The Directors (including any Director who may have delegated detailed supervision ofthe preparation of this announcement) have taken all reasonable care to ensure thatthe facts stated in this announcement are fair and accurate and that no material factshave been omitted therefrom, and they jointly and severally accept responsibility forthis announcement accordingly.

As and when appropriate, the Company will make further announcements in relationto the Warrants Issue.

The proposed Warrants Issue is subject to compliance by the Group with therequirements of the Listing Manual.

In the circumstances, there is no assurance that the Warrants issue willproceed and accordingly, Shareholders ought to exercise caution whentrading or dealing in their shares. Shareholders and potential investors shouldalso seek advice from their stockbrokers, bank managers, solicitors,accountants or other professional advisers if they have any doubts about theactions they should take.

By Order of the BoardTeo Cher KoonManaging Director and PresidentISDN Holdings Limited20 June 2013

Imagine a superb poker player who asks you for a loan to finance his nightly poker playing. For every $100 he gambles, he’s willing to put up $3 of his own money. He wants you to lend him the rest. You will not get a stake in his winning. Instead, he’ll give you a fixed rate of interest on your $97 loan.

The poker player likes this situation for two reasons. First, it minimizes his downside risk. He can only lose $3. Second, borrowing has a great effect on his investment — it gets leveraged. If his $100 bet ends up yielding $103, he has made a lot more than 3 percent — in fact, he has doubled his money. His $3 investment is now worth $6.

But why would you, the lender, play this game? It’s a pretty risky game for you. Suppose your friend starts out with a stake of $10,000 for the night, putting up $300 himself and borrowing $9,700 from you. If he loses anything more than 3 percent on the night, he can’t make good on your loan.

Not to worry — your friend is an extremely skilled and prudent poker player who knows when to hold ,em and when to fold ,em. He may lose a hand or two because poker is a game of chance, but by the end of the night, he’s always ahead. He always makes good on his debts to you. He has never had a losing evening. As a creditor of the poker player, this is all you care about. As long as he can make good on his debt, you’re fine. You care only about one thing — that he stays solvent so that he can repay his loan and you get your money back.

But the gambler cares about two things. Sure, he too wants to stay solvent. Insolvency wipes out his investment, which is always unpleasant — it’s bad for his reputation and hurts his chances of being able to use leverage in the future. But the gambler doesn’t just care about avoiding the downside. He also cares about the upside. As the lender, you don’t share in the upside; no matter how much money the gambler makes on his bets, you just get your promised amount of interest.

If there is a chance to win a lot of money, the gambler is willing to take a big risk. After all, his downside is small. He only has $3 at stake. To gain a really large pot of money, the gambler will take a chance on an inside straight.

As the lender of the bulk of his funds, you wouldn't want the gambler to take that chance. You know that when the leverage ratio — the ratio of borrowed funds to personal assets — is 32–1 ($9700 divided by $300), the gambler will take a lot more risk than you’d like. So you keep an eye on the gambler to make sure that he continues to be successful in his play.

But suppose the gambler becomes increasingly reckless. He begins to draw to an inside straight from time to time and pursue other high-risk strategies that require making very large bets that threaten his ability to make good on his promises to you. After all, it’s worth it to him. He’s not playing with very much of his own money. He is playing mostly with your money. How will you respond?

You might stop lending altogether, concerned that you will lose both your interest and your principal. Or you might look for ways to protect yourself. You might demand a higher rate of interest. You might ask the player to put up his own assets as collateral in case he is wiped out. You might impose a covenant that legally restricts the gambler’s behavior, barring him from drawing to an inside straight, for example.